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UNIVERSITY OF
ILLINOIS LIBRARY
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
URBANA
THE INTER OCEAN BUILDING.
CENTENNIAL HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF CHICAGO
ITS MEN AND INSTITUTIONS
Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens
ILLUSTRATED
1905
PUBLISHED BY THE INTER OCEAN
CHICAGO
PRESS OF THE BLAKELY PRINTING COMPANY
CHICAGO
T
C#K
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•A
Prefatory.
cj
J
URING the five years since the first edition of the Inter Ocean's his-
tory of Chicago was presented to the public, the city has rounded
out its first century. In presenting this volume the general plan of
the original work has been followed. The progress made by the city
in its various lines of activity has been carefully recorded.
The claim is not made that it is a complete, comprehensive his-
tory of Chicago's first 100 years, but the publishers believe it con-
tains more important facts concerning the growth of the city during
the first century of its existence than any other like publication.
The superior arrangement of facts and events mlapped out by the
Hon. Frank Gilbert, in the original edition, has been adhered to as
closely as changing conditions warranted. Much of the matter is pre-
served intact. Except where it has been necessary in bringing the
work up to date, no material changes have been made. Mr. Gilbert's
plans can be best outlined-" by quoting from the preface of the first
edition:
"It was his thought that facts and events would thus be placed
before the reader more attractively and the book be better adapted
for the purpose of reference. It is hoped that this method of treat-
ment will find favor with readers. The great public undertakings
which are closely connected with the life and growth of the city are
especially exploited and the private and personal enterprises which
have been great aids in the building of the citv are given the atten-
tion they so justly deserve. The men, too, whose ability, genius and
forethought have added to the city's character, wealth and renown
have been remembered, and not the least interesting, historically con-
sidered, are the biographies of these city-makers. This is not a pre-
tentious or great work, but it is hoped that it will be found useful
and be given a place in many libraries."
CHICAGO, 1905.
I I 76646
VIEWS— WEST CHICAGO PARKS.
CHAPTER I.
CHICAGO'S FIRST CENTURY.
HE history of Chicago's first cen-
tury is a record of stupendous
contrasts.
One hundred years ago a fron-
tier fort with one white settler
under the protection of its shelter-
ing stockade
To-day a community of over
two million souls.
A century ago unmarked on the
country's map.
To-day the second city in the United States and the
fourth in wealth and commercial power in the world.
In 1803 one Indian trader.
In 1905 a commanding metropolis with a commerce
more valuable than was known to Alexandria, Venice,
Carthage and Tyre.
Outstripping all competitors, the center of the most
fertile region on earth, the great Middle West, from
which the wealth of the nation is mainly drawn, Chicago
at the beginning of its second century looks forward
to a maturity that can be measured only by its unparal-
leled past.
Its massive buildings, its countless homes, its
thousands of factories, its hundreds of churches, its
palaces of art and industry, its great railroad systems,
its magnificent parks, its splendid financial institutions,
with their hundreds of millions of deposits, its boundless
charities, its great thoroughfares and boulevards, its
billions of commerce on land and lake, its schools with
their army of 300,000 children, its colleges and great
universities — all these attest the work of Chicago's first
one hundred years.
While Chicago has not the traditions of the older
cities of the continent, nor the poetry and romance of
the historic centers of the Old World, it has taken its
place among the great cities of the Globe with a rush
that has set aside all records and set a new mark in the
growth and development of municipalities.
It was needed and it came.
Chicago's entire history is record breaking. Its
accomplishments, failures, disasters, experiences have
all been of the superlative degree. It has always done
things on a big, broad gauge, wholesale scale. Its
growth in population, its expansion in area, its park and
boulevard system, its strikes and riots, its fires, its
World's fair, its universities and public schools, its
drainage system, its tall buildings, its Americanism
despite its polyglot population, its murder mysteries,
its commerce, have all be epochal. There have been
no half way possibilities for Chicago. It always "goes
the limit." It is the busiest, richest, poorest, most
advanced, and most backward, windiest, most growing,
swiftest moving, and most aggressive city in the world.
Chicago's commercial pre-eminence is due primarily
to its geographical location. At the headwaters of
Lake Michigan, which dips into the very heart of the
great inter-mountain region of the nation, it is the
natural gateway and centering point of most of its
commerce. The great leaders in the early commercial
activity of the city recognized this, as did the first white
men who pierced the western wilderness.
It is borne out by the great highways of commerce,
the railroads that center here. Over their rails are car-
ried two-thirds of the entire tonnage of the United
States. No city on the face of the earth can compare
with Chicago as a railway center. Chicago railways
have under their control or directly tributary to them
80,000 miles of tracks. They operate more trains in
and out of Chicago daily than come into and leave any
other city in the world.
Chicago's downtown business section, a little more
than a mile square in extent, comprises the life center of
8
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
the most gigantic freight traffic in the world. In this
small congested area, hounded by Twelfth street on the
south, the river on the north. Canal street on the west
and the lake on the east, are handled daily over 300,000
tons of freight. By teaming alone in the loop district
100,000 tons are carried. The tense activities of 800,000
people are carried on daily in this same territory.
Along its thirty miles of streets and alleys these 800
regiments of men, women and children buy, sell and
labor during twelve hours of the day. The inescapable
commercial destiny of Chicago is manifest nowhere more
clearly than in this square mile of territory in the down-
town district. The magnitude of this glut of commerce
and business activity precludes a boast. Chicago mer-
chants pay no less than $50,000.000 a year for the
cartage on the raw material and finished products trans-
ported through this district annually. The railroads
take into this district and out of it more freight than they
load and take from any similar area in the world, more
than any other group of railroads give and take from
any like district on earth.
Chicago is the pulse of the world's food market.
On the floor of the Board of Trade is gauged the
nation's business in produce. It is the counting room
of the western granary of the nations. The total cereal
receipts of the city range from 250,000,000 to over
350,000,000 bushels annually. The receipts of live-
stock aggregate 15,000,000 head, making this the
greatest cattle market the world has ever known. Its
stockyards cover 500 acres and 300 miles of railroad
tracks gridiron it. Here are employed 50,000 people
and the value of the livestock handled is $300,000,000.
The products of the great packing houses are sent into
every land.
The capital invested in Chicago's manufactories
aggregates $625.000,000. An army of 300,000 workers
is employed in these industries and the wages paid
reach a total of nearly $165,000,000 annually. The
output is valued at $1,000,000.000. For twenty years
there has been no decrease to the titanic forward strides
of the city's factories. Chicago's accessibility to cheap
fuel and raw materials, its cheapness of land, its natural
and inevitable advantages as a focal point for the trans-
continental traffic of the country have all contributed
to attract to the city capital and labor. While the
greatest conflicts between these interests have been
fought here, it has not deterred the steady influx of more
money seeking investment and of more workers seek-
ing employment. The very immensity of Chicago has
furnished an element that has made for the freedom and
interests of both sides. Here no aggregation of capital
is great enough to hopelessly crush the workingman
nor no labor organization so autocratic as to per-
manently cripple a great industry.
The second century of Chicago's existence opens
up a magnificent vista of municipal development. No
greater movement for the education and elevation of the
people was ever planned. The schools of the city are
adjusted to the needs of modern industrial life. Nor
will Chicago be submerged in the intensified commer-
cialism of the age. To teach the coming generations
to work with their hands, guided by a trained intelli-
gence, is the aim of the present educational mover, ent
of the city. Manual workers and trained housekeepers
is the product of citizenship aimed at, both fitted for
home builders and useful members of the community.
Co-ordinated with this central schools system are
the parks, neighborhood houses, libraries, art galleries
and other public institutions. Already have the park
commissioners of the South Side built neighborhood
club buildings in the congested districts. Fitted with
gymnasiums, baths, swimming tanks, halls and reading
rooms they have become the center of the citizen-
building movement in the districts where before there
was little to inspire the effort to rise above the dead
level of depressing environment. The physical and
intellectual stimulus can only make for the elevation
of the civic life of the entire city.
Nor are the schoolhouses any longer only places
for the children five or six hours a day. These are now
used as the rallying points for the entire neighborhood.
Here the parents of the children and the older members
of the family can meet for lectures, concerts and the
discussion of questions affecting the community.
Thus the workers in Chicago's industrial army are
being fitted for their share in the upbuilding of the city,
and influences started that will bear fruit during the
city's second century.
CHAPTER II.
THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION
EPTEMBER 26, 1903, Chicago
began a week of celebration in
commemoration of the arrival
of John Kinzie, the first white
settler, and the founding of
Fort Dearborn. From all over
the West the friends and ad-
mirers of the city came to join
with the two million Chicagoans
in the festivities. For a time the
present was forgotten, and every
mind went back to the stockaded fort
and the solitary white settler in his log
shack across the river. The descendants of this pioneer
and the officers who led the small company of United
States regulars into the western wilderness and built the
government outpost, together with the Indians whose
fathers were the owners of the land where a city of two
million souls now stands, met in a common reunion.
Chicag, the grizzled chief of the Chippewas, older
than the city itself, sat upon the platform with
the little great-grand-granddaughters of Captain John
Whistler and the descendants of Lieutenant Swearingen,
and John Kinzie. Push-a-ta-nee-kah, chief of the Sac
and Fox nation, delivered an address. These links with
Chicago's past brought back the picture of the frontier
post of a century before more vividly and emphasized
the wonders that had been wrought from the wilderness
more eloquently, than did the orators who told the
story in rounded periods.
Tablets were placed at historic spots. These will,
in time, be wrought in bronze in commemoration of the
men and events to whom Chicago owes its beginning
and existence. At the public library was placed a repro-
duction of the first Fort Dearborn built in 1803, and the
stockade as rebuilt in 1816. Here the opening exercises
of the celebration were held and Margaret Schuyler Joy
and Catherine Whistler Joy, the great-great-grand
daughters of Captain Whistler who built it, unveiled
the memorial.
Tablet No. 2 was placed on the Palmer House. On
it was a map of the city in 1871, showing the extent of
the great disaster, encircled by two allegorical figures
symbolic of smoke and fire. It told the story of that
tragedy, "The Chicago Fire 1871, burned four miles
along the lake and one mile inland; 2,214 acres of
ground, 13,500 buildings destroyed, 92,000 people made
homeless — $186,000,000 property lost."
The tablet placed on the Masonic Temple bore
this inscription. "Fort Dearborn Military Reservation,
75 acres — established 1824 — sold for town lots 1839.
This square reserved for Dearborn Park, City Library
erected 1898." At Madison and Wabash a tablet in
honor of Marquette was placed. The likeness of
La Salle was placed on the tablet erected on the Board
of Trade. On the city hall were shown in relief the first
and second courthouses erected on the site by Cook
County. A reproduction of the first railway station
and "The Pioneer," the city's first locomotive, was put
up at the Chicago and Northwestern depot, Wells and
Kinzie streets. Chicago's share in the selection of
Abraham Lincoln was recalled in the tablet at Market
and Lake streets. On it were these words, "Here stood
the temporary Republican wigwam in which Abraham
Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency, May
1 8, 1860.
The second day of the celebration being Sunday,
the greatness of Chicago was the theme in all the pulpits.
Special commemorative services were held and the
destiny of the metropolis of the West vividly portrayed.
On the Monday following, a general holiday was
declared and hundreds of thousands thronged to Lincoln
Park to see the great Indian encampment located there.
The scenes of early Chicago were portrayed in the
Indian games and pastimes, and in the storming of Fort
Dearborn, a realistic reproduction of which had been
10
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
erected for the purpose. There was a notable gathering
of old settlers in the evening at the rooms of the old
Chicago Historical Society.
The Indian festivities were continued on the next
day, and throughout the entire week, and in the after-
noon a reunion of the Kinzie, Whistler and Swearingen
families was held at the Auditorium Hotel. These
three names are more closely associated with the found-
ing of Chicago than are any others. The day closed
with a great parade in the evening, showing the com-
mercial growth of the city. It was a spectacle surpass-
ing anything of the kind ever seen in Chicago. All the
military organizations, police and fire departments,
including the old-time firemens' brigade, the Indian
tribes and representatives of all the nationalities in
Chicago took part. The crowds that had been arriving
the previous days packed the downtown districts to
witness the parade. On Wednesday the festivities were
continued at Lincoln Park, the Indian encampment
and rowing and swimming races being the attractions.
The Daughters of the American Revolution held a
reception at Memorial Hall in the evening, which several
thousand attended. A great fire-works display on the
Lake Front closed the program for that day. Thursday
was known as "Mayor's day," and a banquet to visiting
officials was held at the Auditorium Hotel in the even-
ing. The head executives of New York, St. Louis,
Philadelphia, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Toledo, and
many other cities, including most of the Illinois towns
were present. A civic mass meeting at the Auditorium
followed the dinner at which Mayor Low of New York
was the speaker. The week's festivities closed with
another extensive display of fire-works on the Lake
Front Friday evening, the visitors having spent the day
at Lincoln Park, and viewing the great manufacturing
and commercial attractions of the citv.
GARFIELD PARK PAGODA.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY CHICAGO.
' LITTLE ridge, only from eight to ten
feet above lake level, just west of the
present limits of Chicago, may be
noted as nature's first entry in the his-
tory of this city. It served as the
starting point of an aquatic revolu-
tion, or evolution. Gradually dry
land was formed where hitherto the
waters of our unsalted, mid-continent
sea had held undisputed sway, making for
, itself an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico. Slowly
/_
the soil was prepared for one of the mightiest
urban growths of the globe.
But the rescue of a little patch of earth from the
domain of water was not of itself enough to ever serve
as the germ of a city. It was the short and sluggish
stream now called the Chicago River which was the
decree of fate. It is no exaggeration to say that the
metropolis of the Middle West rests on the river which
bears its name. How long the ridge stood and the
river flowed before the first step was taken in the ful-
fillment of this municipal destiny, science cannot deter-
mine. The beavers and the Indians made some joint
use of the property — just enough to be a prophecy of
what civilization would do when the time should come
for their realization.
Chicago may be said to have been discovered by
Sieur Joliet. It is one of the more notable evidences of
man's ingratitude that not even a street in the city
bears the name of this prescient discoverer. La Salle,
who came eight years later, had a vague yet inspiring
vision of the heart of the continent. He caught fore-
gleams of what might be and has been developed from
the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, but the impor-
tance of this portage escaped his observation. Joliet
reached it December 14, 1674, and when he returned
to Montreal he reported this portage as the most impor-
tant discovery of his entire trip, extending as far west
as the Mississippi River.
The illustrious Frenchmen named, and their com-
peers, Father Marquette and Tonty, were mere warfar-
ing observers. The first settler who was in any sense
a connecting link with civilization was a negro from
Hayti. How he came to drift so far from his original
moorings is a mystery, but here he was found, living
solitary and alone, by Colonel Arent Schuyler de Puy-
ster, commandant at Mackinaw, in the summer of 1779.
The record of this curious find bears the date of July 4,
1779. It is a noteworthy and suggestive fact that the
military achievement which added the "Illinois coun-
try" to the United States, preventing this vast prairie
region from sharing the political fate of Canada, also
dates from Independence Day. The name of this first
settler was Jeane Baptiste Point de Saible. He is sup-
posed to have lived here twenty years, but, tired of
waiting, apparently, for the coming of the white man,
he removed to Peoria, where his death occurred. The
commandant described him as ''a handsome negro,'''
and again as a Haytian mulatto, "well settled at Eschi-
kagcu." The humble dwelling of this pioneer was at
the corner of Pine and Kinzie streets, a spot hardly less
deserving of commemoration than the site of Fort
Dearborn.
A little before Saible is supposed to have settled
here the first Chicago real estate transaction occurred.
One William Murray, then living in Kaskaskia, con-
ceived a grand land speculation worthy of George Law.
He organized "the Illinois Land Company" in 1773, and
in its behalf made a purchase from the Indians of a
tract. The vast tract bought had for its northeast cor-
ner mete and bound, as described of record, "Chica-
gou, or Garlick, Creek." The enterprising Haytian was
just over the line, on the north bank of "Garlick Creek."
Mr. Murray and his company would hardly have been
11
12
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
heard of more but for the casual mention of
"Chicagou."
The first white pioneer was John Kinzie, a name
conspicuous in the early days of the city, and still
familiar. In 1804 he bought the cabin of Saible. It is
true that Major Whistler came here the year before and
built the first Fort Dearborn, the log structure burnt at
the massacre of 1812, but he cannot be said to have
treaty of Greenville was that the United States govern-
ment should have several isolated pieces of ground for
trading posts. In this list is found the following entry :
"One piece of land six miles square at the mouth of
Chicago River, emptying into Lake Michigan, where
a fort formerly stood." That treaty fixed both the
geography and the orthography of the city.
The first event to bring Chicago within the scope
PROPOSED PLAN Q
FOR IMPROVING THE MOUTHOF CHICAGO RIVER
Drawn by
F Harrison Jr U.S Assisf
Feby *
Wm. Howard U.SCivii Enomeer
THIS SKETCH OF SURVEY OF CHICAGO SENT TO CONGRESS WITH REPORT IN 1830.
been instrumental in promoting Chicago, as a mart of
trade and center of population.
Moving on and shifting our viewpoint, it may be
fairly said that Chicago was born at Greenville. Ohio, in
the year 1 795. It was at that point that General Wayne,
the "mad Anthony" of military history, met the repre-
sentatives of twelve Indian tribes, and, as the agent of
the United States government, bought the original
site of Chicago. One of the minor provisions of the
of general observation was the Fort Dearborn massacre,
if even that did it. Massacres quite as revolting and
soul-harrowing were not so very unusual in pioneer days
as to attract universal attention, and news traveled
slowly. It was not. however, so much a part of the
price of progress in national expansion as an incident
of the second war with England.
The United States declared war June 12. 1812, and
on the pth of August succeeding Captain Heald. com-
THE CITY Ol; CHICAGO.
13
mander at Fort Dearborn, received orders from General
Hull to evacuate the fort and take his women and chil-
dren to Detroit by land. The departure was set for the
fifteenth of the same month. Some of the women and
children were sent by boat, notwithstanding the order.
That they were not all quietly dispatched in the same
way was one of the mistakes of Hull. The evacuation
itself was due to indications that British emissaries from
Canada had begun to tamper with the Indians. The
party which started out to make that overland march
consisted of no white men, ten women, twenty chil-
dren and 100 Indians supposed to be friendly. This
mixed company had proceeded only about a mile when
a large body of Indian warriors fell upon them. The
friendly Indians either joined in the attack or skulked;
most of them were downright treacherous. In ten
minutes every white man, woman and child was dead
except fifteen. Many a heart-rending tale is still told
of that massacre, slightly relieved by a rescue by one
genuinely friendly red man. On that day of horror Chi-
cago received its baptism of blood, as October 9, 1871,
it received its baptism of fire. The slaughter occurred
in the vicinity of Eighteenth street and Prairie avenue.
A large elm tree was supposed to mark the spot as near
as possible. The massacre tree survived until 1887,
when it shed its last leaf, unable to respond again to
the quickening call of spring. It was cut down and a
fitting monument in bronze commemorative of the
tragic event was erected in its place by Mr. George M.
Pullman, who owned the ground. Many conflicting
reports were made of the massacre, but the account
here followed was set down, with many omitted details,
by an eyewitness.
For two years Chicago dropped out of sight, and
it was four years that the bodies of the victims of the
butchery remained unburied. John Kinzie left his
home and the Indians had their own way in all this
region. Chicago was a scene of desolation. No attempt
was made to re-establish civilized life on the banks of
"Garlick Creek" until after the second war with Eng-
land was over.
It was in July, 1816, that the order to rebuild Fort
Dearborn was issued, and in accordance with said order
Captain Hezekiah Bradley, with two companies of
infantry, took possession of the old ruined fort and pro-
ceeded to rebuild the same. One of the first duties,
however, of the captain and the men under him was
the burying of the skeletons of the dead victims of the
massacre at the time of the evacuation of the fort. This
done, they proceeded to rebuild their home, which was
done in a more careful and substantial manner than
before. John Kinzie and his family came back, and
occasionally other settlers straggled in to renew the
process of civilizing the six-mile tract belonging to the
government. The Indians were still numerous, but so
far as the record goes were never afterward unfriendly.
In 1818 the American Fur Company established a
branch office here, which enlarged the commercial
transactions about the fort. By 1820 there was quite
a village, a half dozen or more comfortable cottages,
which, together with the soldiers of the fort and the
Indians about, made things appear quite lively. About
this time (1820) Chicago was honored with an unusual
visitation. Governor Cass, with a number of other
gentlemen, was making an official expedition through
the Northwest and visited Chicago. Accompanying
this expedition was Henry R. Schoolcraft, who seemed
delighted with Chicago and its surroundings. Mr.
Schoolcraft, although he went out as a mineralogist,
seems to have been the scribe and reporter tor the
party. He says that General Cass and party reached
the village (Chicago) about 5 o'clock on the morning of
August 29, 1820. "We found four or five families living
here, the principal of which were those of John Kinzie,
Dr. A. Wolcott, J. B. Beaubien and J. Crafts, the latter
living a short distance up the river. The Pottawot-
tamies, to whom this site is the capital of trade, appeared
to be lords of the soil, and truly are entitled to the
epithet if laziness and an utter insppreciation of the
value of time be a test of lordliness." "We found the
post, Fort Dearborn, under the command of Captain
Bradley, with a force of 160 men. The river is ample
and deep for a few miles, but is utterly choked by the
lake sands, through which, behind a masked margin, it
oozes its way for a mile or two till it percolates through
the sand into the lake." Mr. Schoolcraft seems to have
been something of an artist, and while he was there
he took a sketch of the village, as he says, "from a
standpoint on the flat of sand which stretched out in
front of the place." The cut herewith presented is a
copy of Mr. Schoolcraft's sketch, which he says,
"embraces every house in the village, including the
fort." Of the country he says: "The country around
Chicago is the most fertile and beautiful that can be
imagined. It consists of an intermixture of wood and
prairies, diversified with gentle slopes, sometimes
attaining the elevation of hills, and it is irrigated with
a number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their
waters partly into Lake Michigan and partly into the
Mississippi River. As a farming country it presents the
greatest facilities for stock-raising and grain, and is one
of the favored parts of the Mississippi Valley. The
climate has a delightful serenity, and it must, as soon as
the Indian title is extinguished, become one of the most
active fields for the emigrant. To the ordinary advan-
tage of an agricultural market town it must add that of
being a depot for the commerce between the northern
and southern sections of the Union, and a great thor-
oughfare for strangers, merchants and travelers."
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
From this it will be seen that Mr. Schoolcraft was
much more enamored with the situation of Chicago than
most of the early travelers through this region. He
saw, too, the advantages of this location from a commer-
cial point of view, and the years since have shown that
he was correct in his estimates of the importance of
this location for commerce and enterprise. It is in
fact true of nearly all the early visitors of Chicago that
they saw great commercial advantages for Chicago —
even when it was only a site it seemed to warm the
imaginations of the Jesuit fathers, Marquette and Joliet,
more than any other point they visited in all their
wanderings. Already Chicago has more than justi-
fied their far-sighted wisdom, but the present has more
promise for the future than 1820 or 1830 had. The
Up to 1823 the place was more generally known as
Fort Dearborn than as Chicago, the military post being
the principal feature of the settlement, but in 1823 the
post was again evacuated and for five years continued
vacant. During that time the designation "Fort Dear-
born" almost entirely disappeared, and the place got its
proper name, Chicago. After the evacuation of the fort
the only government representative that remained was
Dr. Alexander Wcflcott, the Indian agent, who still
retained his office here. Chicago was then a part of
Peoria County, and in the congressional election of 1826
cast 35 votes.
In 1830 William Howard, a United States civil engi-
neer, made a survey of the general location of Chicago,
with especial view as to its relations to the Chicago
VIEW OF CHICAGO IN 1820, BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT.
indications now are that in the next seventy years
wealth, population, commerce, education, art and all
things that relate to the higher life and civilization of
a people will increase more rapidly than they have in
the last seventy years. It will require more wisdom to
prepare the present city to become the wonderful city
Chicago should be in 2070 than was required of its
founders and builders to produce the city of to-day.
Faith and energy were the principal requirements of
the founders, but the men that make this city what it
should be at the end of the next seventy years must
have, in addition to those qualifications, intellectual cul-
ture, practical wisdom, high ideals and courage to do
and dare. The place where Chicago stands was created
for great things, and if citizens of the city and state do
their duty that design will be realized before the close
of the twentieth century.
River and the lake. His drawing and report gave the
best idea of the Chicago River of that early day that
can anywhere be found. The sketch is here repro-
duced, and the beach of sand from which Mr. School-
craft drew his sketch of infant Chicago, ten years pre-
vious, is plainly shown. The Commissioner of the
General Land Office, at the time of reporting this sur-
vey, sent the following letter to Congress in regard to
the same, inclosing the sketch :
"GENERAL LANDOFFICE, March 22, 1830.
"Sir: — I take the liberty to inclose you a diagram,
exhibiting the survey of the public lands lying on Lake
Michigan, at the mouth of Chicago Creek, and would
recommend that an act be passed, authorizing the Presi-
dent to lay off a town at this point. Section 9 has been
allotted to the State of Illinois, under the act granting
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to her certain lands for the purpose of making a
canal.
"Should the United States establish a town at the
mouth of the creek, the state would probably derive
much benefit by extending the lots into Section 9, as
Chicago Creek affords a good harbor through the whole
of this section.
"It is understood that the waters of Lake Michigan
may be drawn into the Illinois River, by a thorough cut
of moderate length, and not more than seventeen feet
deep at the summit ; when this is affected, and the bar
on the outside of the mouth of Chicago Creek is so
deepened as to admit into the harbor with facility ves-
sels of the largest class navigating the lakes, Chicago
must inevitably become one of the most important
depots and thoroughfares on the lakes.
''The government are about bringing into market
a vast extent of country between Lake Michigan and
the Mississippi River, which, as to advantages of local
position, fertility of soil, healthfulness of climate and
mineral resources, is not perhaps excelled by any other
tract of country of equal extent in the United States.
The deepening of the inlet of the harbor of Chicago
would essentially facilitate the sale of these lands and
promote the settlement of the country.
* * * * • * *
"With great respect, your obedient servant,
"GEORGE GRAHAM."
It will be seen by the above that the writer took a
great interest in the embryo city of Chicago, and that
even then, when nobody ever thought of Chicago need-
ing any other drainage receptacle than the lake, he
called attention to the fact that the waters of Lake
Michigan could be easily turned into the Illinois River
by making a cut of moderate length and not more than
seventeen feet deep at the summit ; in fact, nearly all the
pioneers were especially attracted to Chicago on
account of the ease with which a waterway could be
made joining the lake with the Mississippi River through
the Chicago, Desplaines and Illinois rivers. With this
fact so prominent in the minds of the earlier explorers,
it seem strange that such an enterprise should have
been delayed so long as it was. Of course, in those
days they did not have such big ships and boats as are
now necessary on the lakes and rivers, and to make a
navigable stream then required no such a great water-
way as our present drainage board have provided. Now,
however, that Chicago has spent $33,000,000 in begin-
ning this great work, it will be stranger still if the
national government does not follow it up and carry
out the idea of the early pioneers and connect the great
chain of lakes with the Mississippi River. In no other
way can such an extent of navigable water communica-
tion be created on the continent.
After the evacuation in 1823, the fort remained
unoccupied until 1828, when a new garrison was sta-
tioned here, remaining until May, 1831. But it only
remained vacant about one year. Owing to the emer-
gencies of the Black Hawk war, the government again
stationed a force at this port, and the action proved very
fortunate, as the fort afforded a refuge for frightened
settlers for long distances around. After the peace that
followed the Black Hawk war had become apparently
permanent, the troops were again, on December 29,
1836, removed from the fort, and Chicago from that
time on took care of herself without the assistance of the
war department. Chicago now became a place of com
parative activity, looking fonvard to a position in the
commercial world. The year 1837 was quite an impor-
tant year. Chicago was incorporated as a city and
elected her first mayor. In later years the "old settlers"
were those who had come to Chicago in 1837 or pre-
viously. Anybody that came later was barred that
title, or at least barred out of the association as ineli-
gible to membership. In fact, however, it was as far
back as 1830 that Chicago began to show evidence of
ambition to realize the dream of Joliet and to display-
signs of commercial life. Before that, however, it had
gained very slowly. From 1816 to 1830 it had gained
only twelve or fifteen houses and a population of about
100.
A side light is thrown upon the Chicago of that
period by the records of the assessor of Peoria County
in 1825, seven years after Illinois became a state. There
were only fourteen taxpayers in the "Chicago precinct,"
including John Jacob Astor's Fur Company. More than
one-half the assessable property of the place belonged
to Astor, whose name now figures as that of one of
the shortest but most aristocratic streets of the city.
Astor's tax was $50, on a valuation of $5,000. The
totals, without counting Astor's Fur Company, were :
Valuations, $4,047; taxes, $34.47.
It was not until the last vestige of Indian occupa-
tion in bulk had disappeared from Illinois that Chicago
began to grow. The Keokuk treaty of 1830 was
designed to rid the state of these obstructions, but
Black Hawk refused to go. His people occupied a large
area of Northern Illinois. The Black Hawk war closed
with his capture in 1833. Soon after in the same year
not less than 5,000 Indians assembled at Chicago to
treat for the sale of their remaining lands in Northern
Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. It was a tedious
process. The Indians did not want to sell, but the hour
had come and the assembled red men finally bowed to
the inevitable.
The original town of Chicago was laid out in 1830.
It extended from Chicago avenue on the north to Madi-
son street on the south and from State street on the
east to Halsted street on the west. All east of State
16
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
FORT DEARBORN IN 1853 FROM THE SOUTHWEST.
street was subject to overflow from the lake. The West
Side was substantially unbroken prairie. Real estate
speculation began, in a mild form, not reaching the
fever point until the red men were well out of the
way. The first bridge was erected over the south
branch. That was in 1831. Three years later a draw-
bridge was erected which spanned the main river at
Dearborn street.
The first census of Chicago was taken in 1835. It
was taken by the town authorities. It showed a popula-
tion, in November of that year, of 3,255 souls. There
were 398 dwellings, four warehouses, twenty-nine dry-
goods stores, nineteen grocery and provision stores, five
hardware stores, three drug stores, nineteen taverns,
twenty-six saloons, seventeen law offices. The first
Cook County courthouse was erected that year, and
on the northeastern corner of the present courthouse
square. Chicago was then beginning to get 911.
The first step toward a city charter for Chicago was
taken in October, 1836. The town trustees and dele-
gates from the three divisions met in conference to
frame a charter. Their work done, • it was submitted
to the people in mass meeting assembled. With slight
changes it was approved. The charter was then taken
to the General Assembly, which convened at the begin-
ning of 1837. It was passed and approved March 4,
1837, the same day that Martin Van Buren was inau-
gurated President of the United States. That original
city of Chicago had six wards. William B. Ogden was
elected mayor. The whole number of votes cast at the
first municipal election in Chicago was only 709. It was
between the time that Chicago decided to ask for a
city charter and the time it actually got it that it really
ceased to be Fort Dearborn, for the garrison was with-
drawn December 29, 1836.
It was about this time that the great era of specula-
tion in town lots and of internal improvement by states
set in. Chicago was included in one, Illinois in the
other. It was a wild storm of great expectations. Noth-
ing could stand before it. Its fury was unabated till
the crash of 1837 came. The city of Chicago was still
in its cradle, its age counted by months, when the col-
lapse came. Lots which had been bought only a little
while before for a few hundred dollars were sold for
thousands of dollars, and everything seemed to betoken
wonderful prosperity. The collapse came and the fall
was greater than the rise. From 1837 to about 1840
was a period of great depression and hardship. Chicago
was what the vernacular of to-day calls "a busted boom
town.'' To make the misery more complete, drought
fell like a blight upon the prairie farmers and an epi-
demic of cholera visited the little poverty-stricken city.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
17
It was not until 1842 that Chicago gave signs of recov-
ery from the depression, and then only faint and feeble.
The decade of the forties may be set down as a period
memorable for its beginnings. In his "Story of Chicago"
Major Joseph Kirkland makes this brief summary on
this point :
"The forties saw the beginning, in a small way, of
nearly all the great institutions Chicago now enjoys. In
1841 the first waterworks were built. The first propeller
was launched in 1842, in which year the exports were for
the first time greater than the imports. The first book
compiled, printed, bound and issued is said to have
been in 1843. The first meat for the English market was
packed in 1844. The first permanent public school
building was built in 1845. In 1846 the River and
Harbor Convention met and Chicago was made a port
of entry. In 1847 the first permanent theater was
opened (Rice's; south side of Randolph street, between
State and Dearborn streets), and McCormick's reaper
factory was started. In 1848 the first telegram was
received, being a message from Milwaukee, and later
the 'Pioneer,' our first locomotive, was landed from the
schooner Buffalo and started out on the Galena rail-
way. In the same year the Board of Trade was estab-
lished and the canal opened. In 1849 the Chicago &
Galena Union Railroad was opened to Elgin."
We have now reached a point in the history of
Chicago where we must deal with a great city, not the
beginnings of one. As the ground on which it stands
was long in getting out from under the dominion of the
lake, and our river was long a mere pool slowly rising to
the dignity of a fresh water estuary, so the city itself
made hard work of getting a start. There were at least
three cities in the state, Shawneetown, Galena and Alton
which gained no inconsiderable importance while
Chicago was having a baffling struggle for bare exist-
ence. But about the time the city charter was granted
the municipality entered upon its career, and from this
CITY HALL.
18
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
time on we are not to deal with a rivulet. The municipal
river is not only widening, but really has an ever-increas-
ing number of branches, each of which invites to
historical exploration. They will be explored, so far
as practicable, in the order of their beginnings. This
topical indistinction from chronological method seems
best suited to a presentation of the past experiences of
a great city, as the biographical method is to a presenta-
tion of its present life.
MILE STONES IN CHICAGO'S WONDERFUL
GROWTH.
1803.
Fort Dearborn built by Captain John Whistler and
Lieutenant James S. Swearingen of the United .States
army, in command of a company of United States troops
from Detroit. The post was named in honor of Gen-
eral Henry Dearborn, then secretary of war. Popula-
tion, seventy-five.
1804.
John Kinzie and his family become the first white
s-ettlers under the United States, following the soldiers
from Detroit to trade with the Indians. He brought
with him his wife and young son. In that year Ellen
Marion Kinzie was born, the first white child of the set-
tlement. Mr. Kinzie died here in 1828.
1805.
The first lawyer, Charles Jewett, came to Chicago
and was appointed the first Indian agent for the Potta-
wattamies, and other nearby tribes.
1806.
Efforts made by Tecumseh, the famous Indian chief,
and his brother, the Prophet, to form a confederacy of
the Indians against the whites at Fort Dearborn and
other western settlements.
1810.
The first doctor, John Cooper, surgeon mate. U. S.
A., came to Chicago, being detailed for duty by the war
department at Fort Dearborn. The Pottawattamies
opened warfare against the settlement. First sugges-
tion of government connecting the Chicago and Illinois
river by canal by way of the portage.
1812.
August 5, occurred the massacre of the garrison of
Fort Dearborn, together with a number of settlers on
the south shore. Captain Nathan Head was ordered
to evacuate the fort and retreat to Detroit, as a result
of the hostilities between the United States and Eng-
land. Fort Dearborn was burned by the Indians. Pop-
ulation, one hundred and ten.
1813.
Phillip Fouche appointed as first United States mar-
shall for the district embracing Chicago.
1816.
Captain Hezekiah Bradley arrived in command of
two companies of infantry and rebuilt Fort Dearborn.
The Indian agency and warehouse reestablished. Kinzie
family returned. Population, one hundred and fifty.
1817.
Route between Chicago and Mackinac Island estab-
lished by the schooners Baltimore and Hercules.
1818.
Illinois admitted to the Union as a state. The
American Fur Company established agency here.
1821.
First government survey of the shore line of Lake
Michigan off Chicago made.
1822.
Alexander Beaubien baptized by the Rev. Stephen
D. Badin.
1823.
Fort Dearborn evacuated by federal troops. Dr.
Alexander Wolcott remained in charge as Indian agent.
His wedding to Miss Ellen Marion Kinzie celebrated,
the first marriage in the settlement. Mrs. Wolcott died
in Detroit in 1860. Illinois and Michigan canal bill
passed by legislature.
1824.
Survey for the Illinois and Michigan canal is made.
1825.
The first Protestant sermon preached in Chicago
October 9, by the Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Baptist clergy-
man. Chicago still a part of Peoria County. Popula-
tion, two hundred.
1826.
Election for congress and for governor held. Only
thirty-five votes were cast.
1827.
First slaughter house built by Archibald Clybourne
on north branch of the river, which was forerunner of
great packing industry. First company of militia
organized..
1828.
Fort Dearborn is regarrisoned by Federal troops.
John Kinzie died.
1829.
Wolf Tavern built at the forks of the river by Archi-
bald Caldwell and James Kinzie. First ferry estab-
lished near site of present Lake street bridge.
1830.
Chicago surveyed and platted and first bridge built
over the river at Randolph street. Population, five
hundred.
1831.
Cook County formed and Chicago made county
seat. First county building erected. First postoffice
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
19
established with Jonathan N. Bailey as postmaster.
First Methodist church built and first government light-
house established at harbor mouth.
1832.
First store built of boards, put up by Robert Kinzie
on west side of river. First drug store established by
Philo Carpenter. Four companies of militia volunteer
for Blackhawk war and General Winfield Scott arrived
July 8, with regular troops. First sawmill established
mont house built. Block on which new postoffice stands
sold for $550. Population, eight hundred.
1834.
The city floated its first loan. First Episcopal
church, St. James, established by the Rev. Isaac YY.
Hallam. First mail route established between Chicago
and Detroit by Dr. John H. Temple. The first draw-
bridge built across the river at Dearborn street. The
first vessels to navigate river were the steamer Michigan
THE GOVERNMENT BUILDING.
and first meat packed and shipped. Steamer Sheldon
Thompson brought cholera to town.
1833-
Chicago incorporated as a town. First newspaper
established, The Democrat, by John Calhoun. The
first public school opened with an enrollment of twenty-
five. First log jail built, five trustees for town elected
and code of municipal laws adopted. First shipment of
merchandise from Chicago taken out by schooner
Napoleon. First Roman Catholic parish, St. Mary's
established by the Rev. Father John St. Cyr. First
Presbyterian congregation formed by the Rev. Jere-
miah Porter. First fire department organized with
Benjamin Jones as chief. An appropriation of $25,000
for the improvement of the harbor made. First Tre-
and the schooner Illinois. The first piano brought to
town by George J. B. Beaubien. The first divorce is
granted, and the first murder trial concluded. Popula-
tion, i, 600, number of votes cast at election, 528.
The first courthouse, a one-story and basement brick
structure, built on the southwest corner of Clark and
Randolph streets. United States land office opened with
a rush. The first Chicago bank opened, branch of the
Illinois State bank. Board of health organized.
School census taken. Population, 3,279.
1836.
First ground broken for Illinois and Michigan canal
July 4. The Clarissa the first sailing vessel built in Chi-
cago launched. The garrison quartered in Fort Dear-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
COLUMBUS MEMORIAL BUILDING.
born since 1828, withdrawn and site abandoned as an
army post. William B. Ogden's house built from archi-
tectural designs, the first of its kind in the city. The
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad chartered. Pres-
idental vote of Cook County 1,043.
1837-
The City of Chicago incorporated and first city
election held. Daniel Webster visited city. First census
of city showed a population of 4,170. First theater
opened. First financial panic.
1838.
First side-wheel steamer, the James Allen, built.
First steam fire engine purchased. The first exporta-
tion of wheat, seventy-eight bushels, took place. Con-
gressional vote, 2,506.
1839-
First big fire cost the city $75,000. First job print-
ing office opened, and first daily paper, The American,
published. Thanksgiving publicly observed for the
first time. First brewery established.
1840.
The public free schools were reorganized and made
permanent. Scammon's reports were issued, the first
book published in Chicago. First Clark street bridge
built. Population, 4,470.
1841.
First wave of temperance struck the town and 150
took the pledge in three days. Bridge built at Wells
street.
1842.
Forty merchants pass through bankruptcy courts.
Works of Chicago Hydraulic Company put in operation.
The Independence, the first propeller launched. It was
the first steamboat to navigate Lake Superior. Ex-
president Van Buren visited the city.
1843-
Corn and wheat make low record in February, corn
selling at 1 8 cents and wheat 38 cents a bushel. First
Chicago directory published in book form. First ses-
sion of Rush Medical College held. A tri-weekly
express service established between Chicago and the
East.
1844.
Tornado wrecks many houses and shipping in the
harbor. Great boom in building, 600 houses erected.
First fire alarm bell installed. St. Mary's of the Lake
University established. Dearborn school, first perma-
nent school building erected at a cost of $7,500. Popu-
lation, 12,000.
1845-
First power printing press brought here by "Long
John" Wentworth, editor of the Democrat. County
court established.
1846.
July 13 Chicago made a port of entry. Holy Name
St. Peter's, St. Patrick's, and St. Joseph's churches
established. Recruiting for Mexican war kept town in
ferment. First levy for special assessments made.
1847-
River and Harbor convention met in Chicago.
Rice's theater first opened. First law school opened,
and first patients received in hospital.
1848.
First telegram received in Chicago from Milwaukee
on April 15. April 10 the first boat passed through the
Illinois and Michigan Canal. October 25, an engine and
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
21
two cars were run over the first five miles of track of
the Galena railroad. First session of the new United
States court was held. An epidemic of smallpox
reigned and vaccination was general.
1849
Storms and flood damage shipping to the extent of
$100,000. Waters of Desplaines and Chicago rivers
unite in great flood, which tears away all bridges. Tre-
mont house again burned, together with twenty other
buildings. Another epidemic of cholera and thirty
deaths occur on one day. Panic among banks. Presi-
dential vote, 3,832.
1850
Galena and Chicago Union Railroad opened to
Elgin. First gas is turned on in city mains. First
opera is given. First streets paved with planks,
Stephen A. Douglas made his great speech. Federal
census gives Chicago 29,963 population.
1851
Trouble with Michigan Southern Railroad over its
contentions of prior rights into Chicago was settled
in an opinion by Douglas, which declared that the Illi-
nois Central and the Rock Island roads were entitled
to come into the city over their own tracks to their own
terminals.
1852.
Chicago's first big loan floated for $250,000 for
building the new waterworks. First train is run into the
city over the Michigan Southern, arriving in Chicago,
February 20. First train on Michigan Central arrives
May ,!2i. City waterworks operated for first time.
Northwestern University is located in Chicago, and
superintendent of public schools appointed. Presiden-
tial vote, 5,024.
1853.
Chicago had its first labor strike. New courthouse
is occupied. Ole Bull given an ovation. Wreck at
Grand Crossing in collision between Michigan South-
ern and Galena road, killed eighteen persons. Douglas
hooted down while attempting to speak in defense of
Kansas-Nebraska bill.
1854-
First train on the Chicago and Rock Island road
arrived June 5. Illinois Central makes Chicago head-
quarters instead of St. Louis. Cholera epidemic.
1855.
First train on Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Rail-
road run as far as Burlington, Iowa, May 30. Main
road of Illinois Central completed. Attempt to enforce
Sunday law caused riot, one man killed and several
wounded. First state agricultural fair held October 9,
on the canal near Blue Island avenue. Nearly 1,500
deaths occurred from cholera.
1856.
First high school opened. The Chicago Historical
society organized. First ordinance for street railway
on State street from Randolph to southern limit of city
passed. First sewers are laid and first iron bridge is
swung across Rush street. Present grade level of street
GREAT NORTHERN BUILDING.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
was established after strong opposition. First direct
clearance for European ports by the schooner Dean
Richmond. First steam tug in the river. Presidential
vote, 11,615.
1857-
Great financial crisis, banks in panic and city orders
went to protest. Great fire in South Water and Lake
streets, caused $500,000 loss. McVicker's theater first
opened. Population 93,000, and Chicago recognized
as the metropolis of the Northwest.
1858.
The first street car was run in State street and the
first paid fire department was organized.
1860.
Steamboat Lady Elgin was lost on September 8,
and 293 persons perished. The United States census
gave Chicago a population of 109,260. The presiden-
tial vote was 18.985.
1861.
The famous Camp Douglas was established at
Cottage Grove avenue and Thirty-ninth street, at the
outbreak of the war of the rebellion.
1862.
The first internal revenue collector was appointed.
1863.
The city limits are extended to include Bridgeport
and Holstein. Up to this time 400 miles of street had
been improved and twenty-nine miles had been grav-
eled.
1864.
Work was begun on the first water tunnel at the
land shaft March 17. Special assessments were tied up
for a year by court proceedings against the la\v.
1865.
The first tunnel crib was launched July 24. The
Union Stock Yards were opened for business and the
first fire-alarm telegraph was installed.
1867.
Lake water tunnel was completed and the pumping
station and tower at Chicago avenue was built.
1869.
Great celebration held over the completion of the
Washington Street tunnel. Courthouse built in 1851
was enlarged by the addition of two wings and another
story. The park act was passed. Total tax was $3,990,-
373 and the bonded debt $7,882,500.
1870.
Bonded debt is increased to $11,041,000. United
States census gave Chicago a population of 306,605.
1871.
The great fire occurred on October 7, 8, 9, 10 and
1 1 , causing a loss of $290,000.000. Nearly twenty
thousand buildings were destroyed. On the West Side
194 acres were burned over, on the South Side 460
acres, and on the North Side 1,470 acres. The La Salle
Street tunnel was dedicated.
1872.
Over $30,000,000 is spent in rebuilding the city.
Great influx of population because of labor required in
building.
1873-
Great rebuilding operations continued. Financial
panic which affected the whole country struck Chicago.
The United States sub-treasury established. Public
library opened.
1880.
Federal census gave Chicago a population of over a
half a million or 503,185.
1882.
Cable trains first installed and operated on the Chi-
cago City Railway, in State street and Wabash avenue.
1883.
Present city hall and county building were com-
pleted.
1885.
First investigation made for building drainage canal.
1886.
Serious riots led by the anarchists took place in
Haymarket square on the West Side, many policemen
were killed by the explosion of a bomb.
1889.
Sanitary district of Chicago organized and the build-
ing of the great drainage canal planned. •
1890.
Chicago's population passed the million mark and
according to the federal census the city became the
second in size in the United States, with 1,105,540
inhabitants. Sanitary district organized.
1892.
Columbian Exposition built in Jackson Park. First
elevated railroad put in operation. Ground broken for
the building of the drainage canal. Rockefeller rejuve-
nates the University of Chicago.
1893.
World's fair opened and broke all records for
magnitude and attendance.
1894.
Great strike inaugurated by the American Railway
union under Eugene V. Debbs. President Cleveland
called out federal troops to assist police and Illinois
National guard in maintaining order. Moore Brothers
become involved through operation in Diamond Match
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
23
and National Biscuit stock, and fail for $5,000,000,
causing temporary closing of Chicago Stock exchange.
1896.
Greatest political parade in history when 100.000
sound-money Republicans and Democrats get into line.
1897.
New Public Library building dedicated. Joseph
Leiter forces a corner in wheat and runs up the price to
$1.87 a bushel on Board of Trade. Failure followed in
which his losses aggregated over $5,000,000. Levi Z.
Leiter comes to his relief and makes complete settle-
ment.
1898.
Union Elevated loop built.
1899.
Drainage canal is dedicated and water is turned into
the channel. Corner stone of the new postoffice and fed-
eral building is laid by President McKinley, October 9.
1900.
Federal census gives the population of Chicago as
1,698,575. Formal opening of drainage canal Janu-
ary 17.
1901.
George H. Phillips cornered May corn and ran price
up to sixty cents a bushel. Chicago teachers federation
get supreme court decision for taxing property of cor-
porations on same basis as property of individuals.
1902.
Movement for new city charter begun in October.
1903.
Centennial celebration of the founding of Chicago
and the building of Fort Dearborn. New Iroquois
theater pronounced absolutely fireproof burned, and
575 men, women and children suffocated and burned
to death.
1904.
Theaters all closed as result of Iroquois fire. Mayor
Harrison, building commissioner and theater officials
held to grand jury. New building ordinance passed pro-
viding for complete fire protection in theaters and public
buildings. Orchestra hall, permanent home for Thomas
Orchestra, dedicated.
1905.
Theodore Thomas died in January. General team-
sters strike.
FLORAL DISPLAY, HUMBOLDT PARK.
CHAPTER IV.
THE GROWTH AND THE MAYORS OF CHICAGO.
municipality of Chicago has
never fully kept up with its tre-
mendous growth in commerce and
population. The civic problems
presented have no sooner been
solved than others have developed.
At the beginning of the city's sec-
ond century it is still struggling for
a wider and more comprehensive
city government and for a munici-
pal machinery capable of handling its affairs. The
movement for the new city charter, begun in Octo-
ber, 1902, has as yet (1905) borne but little fruit.
That Chicago will come into her own by securing an
adequate municipal code of laws and schemes of gov-
ernment is a promise of the near future. The demand
for such a charter is becoming more urgent every year,
and in the gradual process of evolution such a plan will
be worked out as will give the city a municipal machin-
ery consistent with its greatness.
Chicago first became a municipal entity on February
11, 1835, when the original Town of Chicago was incor-
porated. Its boundaries at that time were Twelfth
street on the south, Halsted street on the west, and
Chicago aveune on the north. The three sections of
the city even at that early day were grouped about the
Chicago river. On March 4, 1837, the City of Chicago
was incorporated and the limits extended to Twenty-
second street on the south, Wood street on the west,
and North avenue on the north. The territory
embraced within the original city limits was 10.635
square miles and the population 4.170. At the end of
the city's first century it had grown in territory to
190.638 square miles, and contained approximately
2,000,000 inhabitants.
In the first ten years the city quadrupled in popula-
tion and spread out further and further from the down-
town business center. On February 16, 1847, tne
annexation to the city was made, consisting of 3.275
square miles of territory lying along the western
boundary between Wood street and Western avenue.
It also included the original tract from which Lincoln
park has been developed. The second extension came
five years later, the city having in the meantime
increased to a population of over 60,000. The additions
were made to all sides of the city, south, west and north.
This increase was a little less than four square miles.
From then on until after the war Chicago began to
grow by leaps and bounds. By 1860 the city had gone
beyond the 100,000 mark, and on February 13, 1863
the boundaries were again extended in all directions,
on the south to Thirty-ninth street, on the west to
Western avenue and on the north to Fullerton avenue,
the area taken in aggregating 6.284 square miles, giving
the city 150,000 inhabitants. Six years later large addi-
tions were made to the west and northwest sides, the
boundaries on the west being extended to Fortieth ave-
nue. The increase in territory at this time was 11.38
square miles, making a total area of 35,562 squqare
miles, an increase in area of 250 per cent since 1837.
The population by this time had reached the quarter-
million mark. In 1887 one square mile of the township
of Jefferson was annexed to the northwest and two years
later another square mile of the same township was
added and the western boundaries were extended to
Forty-sixth avenue and Forty-eighth avenue. This
made the total area of the city, on April 29, 1889, 43.712
square miles. The population of the city proper and its
adjoining suburbs had reached the million mark. On
July 15, 1889, Chicago's greatest gain in area was made.
On the south the great village of Hyde Park was
annexed, the town of Lake was taken in to the north-
west, part of Cicero to the west, the town of Jefferson to
the northwest and the city of Lakeview to the north, a
24
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
25
total of 126.07 °f square miles of territory being added
to the city. This brought the total up to 169.782 square
miles and gave the city a population of approximately
1,100,000 inhabitants. Since then numerous small
additions have been made, the outlying suburbs being
admitted whenever they knocked for admission. These
annexations were made in the order named : The village
of Gano to the south in the Calumet district, South
Englewood, Washington Heights and West Roseland,
admitted during the year 1890; the village of Fernwood
admitted in 1891 ; the village of Westridge and Rogers
Park and Norwood Park in 1893; part of the town of
Calumet in 1895 and Cicero and a part of Austin in
1899. This last addition brought the total area up to
190.638 square miles.
Chicago's longest distance, from One Hundred and
Thirty-eighth street on the south to Howard avenue in
Rogers Park on the north, is 25.5 miles. From the
Indiana boundary line at One Hundred and First street
and the lake, the shore line north to Howard avenue,
including all indentations, is exactly 134,801 feet or
25.23 miles. The city's greatest width from east to west
is at Seventy-eighth street, the distance from the shore to
Forty-eighth avenue being 10.5 miles. The greatest
width on the North Side is at North avenue. From the
shore line to North Seventy-second avenue on the west
is 9.25 miles. Western avenue is the longest street in
the city, extending from One Hundred and Seventh
street on the south to Howard avenue on the north for
a distance of 22.16 miles. Ashland avenue if cut
through between the same points would be the same
length. From One Hundred and Fifteenth street to One
Hundred and Twenty-third street, Ashland avenue forms
the western boundary of the city for one mile, which
if added to it would make it 23.16 miles long. Halsted
street comes next. Beginning at Calumet river at about
One Hundred and Thirty-second street and extending to
the lake on the north it covers a distance of approxi-
mately 21.4 miles.
As to the population at the present time (1905) there
seems to be no accurate information. That it is well
over the two million mark is generally admitted. The
estimates for 1904 varied all the way from 1,714,144 to
2,241,000. The school census was taken as the basis
for the first estimate and the city directory for the latter.
The census bureau in Washington for 1905 gave the
estimate of Chicago at over 1,900,000. In compiling
the city's vital statistics for 1904, the health department
used as a basis the mid-year estimate of 1,932,315 inhab-
itants. That it is well over the two million mark is
believed by many competent judges.
The last federal census taken in 1900 shows Chi-
cago's population to be divided in point of nationality
as follows : German, including those whose parents were
HUMBOLDT PARK.
THE CITY 01' CHICAGO.
born in Germany, hut themselves in America, 534,083 ;
Irish, figured on the same basis, 254,914; native Ameri-
cans whose parents were also American, 384,122. The
Colored, 30,150; Austrians, 29,760: Scotch. 28,529;
French, 21,026. The rest of Chicago's cosmopolitan
population is made up of from nearly every people on the
native population of persons horn in the United States face of the earth. China, India, Finland, Japan, Rouma-
was 1,111,463. Of these 769,882 were horn in Illinois, nia. Turkey, Wales, Switzerland, Hungary, Greece and
This leaves 727,341 who were of foreign birth. Of this the Islands of the Sea are all represented.
CHICAGO STOCK EXCHANGE BUILDING.
number 170,738 were born in Germany and 73,912 in Chicago's city government consists of the following
Ireland. Other nationalities are represented as follows elective officers, all chosen for a period of two years:
by those of foreign birth and whose parents were of Mayor, city clerk, city attorney, city treasurer, and
foreign birth: Swedes, 144,719; Poles, 167,383; Bohe- city council, consisting of seventy alderman, two for
mians, 109,224; Norwegians, 59.898; English, 72,876: each of the thirty-five wards of the city. The mayor
Russians, 61.974; Canadians, 48,304: Italians, 42.054; receives a salary of $10,000 a year, and the city clerk
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
27
and city attorney each $5,000. and the city treasurer 25
per cent of the interest allowed by the banks on the
city's deposits. The aldermen are each paid $1,500 a
year. Half of the aldermen are elected each spring.
The total appropriation for the city for 1905 aggre-
gated $34,084.910. Of this amount $23,525,193 was
set aside for city purposes, $10,159,717 for schools and
$400,000 for the libraries. The expenditure for city pur-
poses for the year ending December 31, 1904,
aggregated $22,806,949. The general government of
the city for 1904, including all the departments outside
of the public safety and public works department, cost
$2,033,255. For public safety was spent $6,074,369.
Under this head come the police department and minor
courts, the house of correction, the fire department,
health department, hospitals, public pounds and munic-
ipal lodging houses. The public works department for
1904 spent $8,449,049. Under this head come the
bureau of streets, sewers, local improvements, electricity
and water works. For public recreation and art was
spent $20,201.31. This was mainly devoted to public
play grounds. It cost the city to pay its judgments and
damage claims, $5,1 18,897 f°r I9°4-
The total bonded debt of Chicago outstanding
December 31, 1904, was $22,618,000. This showed an
increase of $7,495,000 over the preceding year. During
1904 judgment funding bonds aggregating $5,225,000
and permanent improving bonds of $3,000,000 were
issued.
The city of Chicago in its general government, pub-
lic safety, public works, water works, board of education
and miscellaneous departments employed during 1904
17,029 persons, to whom was paid in salaries $16,270,-
007.24. The greatest share of this was paid for educa-
tion, $6,386,957 being the salary list of Chicago's
school teachers. Public safety cost in salaries alone
$5,332,969, three-fifths of this amount going to the
police department.
The city owns 341 school buildings, containing 4,905
rooms. The value of these structures, with their sites
and furniture, is $31.135.900. The board of education
besides this rents buildings containing 138 rooms.
This gives a seating capacity of 252,324. The board
has under construction nineteen new school buildings,
costing $2,735,000, including 414 class rooms. The
usual seating capacity per room is forty-eight pupils.
The construction of forty-two new school buildings to
cost $5,300,000, and containing 658 class rooms, have
been ordered built. The value of the board's property
other than that used for school purposes is $9,221,-
457-33-
The total enrollment of schools for the school year
ending in June, 1905. was 282,346. Of this number
142,210 were boys and 140,136 were girls. The percent-
age of attendance was 94.4. and the total membership
of the schools at the close of the school year was 234,733,
divided as follows: Normal school, 288. high schools,
IO-356, grammar department, 76.370, primary depart-
ment, 138,429, kindergarten, 9.1 1 1, and schools for the
deaf, 179. The total number of teachers employed at
the end of the school year was 5.716, or about one for
forty-one pupils. The work of the schools in citizenship
building is shown by the number of pupils in elementary
grades studying manual training, cooking and sewing,
cooking being studied at the end of the year by 6,818,
sewing by 6,782 and manual training by 12,480 pupils.
The police force consists of 3,135 men in uniform
service, to whom are paid $3.331,147 in salaries every
year. There are 1,275 members of the fire department,
who are paid $1,523,212. The employees of the public
works department number 2,914, and the salary list
amounts to $2,603,331 annually. The water-works
department employs 1,426 men at an annual cost of
$1,207,402. The water system consists of ten pumping
stations, five lake cribs with 37.7 miles of lake and land
tunnels leading to the pumping stations. The water
mains aggregated 1,978 miles in 1895, and the total cost
of the system up to that time was approximately $37,-
000,000. In 1904 the water pumped by the various
stations in Chicago aggregated 146,280,598,353 gallons
and the total revenue of the water system amounted to
$4,000,462. In connection with the water-works sys-
tem the city maintains seven free public baths for men,
women and children. During 1904, 944,979 baths were
furnished. The city maintains 24,775 gas lights, 6,386
gasoline lights and 5,724 electric lights, aggregating
in all 36,890 lights. This furnishes illumination equal to
12,849,400 candle power. Up to January i, 1905, the
city had built 8,543,055 feet of sewers at a cost of $23,-
394,793. During that time 222,000 house drains were
put in. The length of the intercepting sewers planned
as an auxiliary system to the drainage canal amounts
to 86,642 feet, to cost in the aggregate, together with
large pumping stations at Thirty-ninth street on the
south and Lawrence avenue on the north, $5,000.000.
Up to January i, 1905. the greater part had been
completed at a cost of $4,000,000.
In track elevation Chicago leads the world. Plans
have been drawn for the elevation of 709.95 miles of
track, of which 138.10 are main track, to cost $51,860,-
250. Of this amount on January i, 1905, 425.19 miles
has been elevated, of which 82.84 were main tracks. Of
the 735 subways to be constructed 360 has been com-
pleted. The total cost of this work has been $28,725,-
250, borne entirely by the railroads. The cost of the
track elevation still to be done will aggregate $23,-
135,000.
28
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
These statistics show briefly the physical growth of
the municipality of Chicago. In the following chapters
are presented in detail the scope of some of the more
important departments.
The population, value of property for purposes of
taxation, the taxes collected and the debt of the city
since its incorporation in 1837 follow:
DATE.
Population.
Total
Valuation.
Total Tax.
Bonded
Indebtedness.
1837
4. 17O
$ 236,842
$ 5,905
1838
235,996
8,849
$ * 9,996
1839
94,803
4,664
* 7,182
1840
1841
4.479
94.437
166,747
4.721
10,004
* 6,559
•12,387
1842
151,342
9,181
*i6, 372
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
7,580
12,088
14,169
16,859
20,023
23,047
28,269
J,44I,3M
2,763,281
3,065,022
4,521,056
5,849,190
6,300,440
6,676,684
7,222,249
8,562,717
8,647
17,166
11,077
15,825
18,159
22,051
30.045
25,270
63 385
'12,655
* 9,795
*io,6gi
'16,045
*I3,I79
*2o,338
*36,333
93-395
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
48,000
60,652
75,000
80,000
84,"3
10,463,414
16,841,831
24,392,239
20,992,873
31,736,084
36,335,281
76,948
135,662
499,081
206,209
396,652
572,046
126,035
189,670
248,666
328,000
435,000
535,000
1858
35,991,732
430 190
1859
36,553,380
543,614
1,855,000
i860
1861
109,206
37,053,512
36,352, 380
573,315
550 968
2,336,000
2,362,000
1862
1863
138,186
37,139,845
42.677 ^24
564,038
Szi 346
3,028,000
3.422 ^OO
1864
1865
1866
1867
169,353
178,492
200,418
48,732,782
64,709,177
85,953,250
195,026,844
974,665
1,294,183
1,719,064
2,518 472
3,544,500
3,701,000
4,3D9,500
4,757 500
1868
1869
252,054
230,247,000
266 92O,OOO
3,223,457
3,990, 373
6,484,500
7,882 500
1870
1871
306,605
275.986,550
289 746,470
4,139,798
2 807 564
11,041,000
1872
1873
367,396
283,197,430
312 072 995
4,262,961
5.617 3i 3
13,544.000
13 478 ooo
1874
1875
395.408
303,705,140
173,764,246
5,466,692
5,108,981
13,456,000
13,457 ooo
1876
1877
407,661
168,037,178
148,400, 148
4,046,805
4,013 410
13,436,000
13 364 ooo
1878
1879
436.731
131,981,436
117,970 135
3*778,856
3 776 888
1 3.°57, 00°
1880
1881
503,298
117,133,643
119 151,951
3,899,126
4 I l6 7O8
12,752,000
1882
1883
560,693
125.358.537
132 2^O SO4
4,227,402
12,752,000
1884
1885
629,985
137,326,980
4,872,456
12,751,500
1886
1887
693,861
158,496,132
161,204,535
5,368,409
5,602 712
12,588,500
12 588 500
1888
1889
802,651
160,641,727
2OI, 104,019
5.723,067
6 326 561
12,561,500
1890
1891
1,105,540
219,354,368
256,599, 574
9.558,334
10,453 270
13,545,40°
I 3 Kao "*<;O
1892
1893
1894
1,438,010
1.567,727
243.732,138
245.790,395
12, 142,448
11,810.969
18,515.450
18,427,450
1895
1896
1,616,635
243,476,825
14,239,685
17,188,950
1897
232 O26 66O
12 Q^Q ***
1898
1899
11,851,588
220,966,447
I2,2O7.9O6
19.922,460
1900
1901
Ji, 698,575
276,565,880
17,086,408
16,328,450
1902
1903
1904
1,873,880
411,424,280
14,815,388
15,123.000
1905
2,000,000
Floating liabilities.
School census.
U. S. census.
THE MAYORS OF CHICAGO.
Since 1836 Chicago has had forty-eight mayoralty
terms, which have been filled by thirty-two individuals.
It is a little peculiar that ten men filled twenty-six of
these forty-eight terms, and that twenty-two men filled
the other twenty-two. B. W. Raymond served two
terms; Augustus Garrett two terms; James Curtis two
terms; W. S. Gurney two terms; John Wentworth
two terms ; F. C. Sherman three terms ; John B. Rice
two terms; Monroe Heath two terms; Carter H. Harri-
son (the first) five terms, and Carter H. Harrison (the
second) four terms.
William B. Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago, was
born in Delaware County, New York, in 1805. In 1834
he was a member of the New York Legislature and took
an active part in legislation in behalf of the Erie Canal,
being an earnest advocate of that enterprise. He came
to Chicago in 1835 and became extensively interested in
real estate, and was one of the few men who weathered
the great financial crash of 1837. He was for many
years prominent in all important movements in Chi-
cago, but later returned to New York City, where he
made his home until the day of his death, which occurred
August 3, 1877.
Buckner S. Morris, the second mayor of Chicago,
elected in 1838, was a Kentuckian and settled in this
city to practice law in 1834. In 1840 he and Abraham
Lincoln were chosen by the Whig convention as can-
didates for state electors, and in 1860 he was a candidate
for governor of the state. In 1864 he was arrested,
among others, for conspiracy to release the rebel pris-
oners at Camp Douglas, but was honorably acquitted.
Benjamin W. Raymond, the third mayor, and also
the sixth, being elected in 1839 and afterward in 1842
was born in New York City, and came to this city in
1836. He erected the first woolen factory in the state
at Elgin, and was afterward prominent in establishing
the Elgin National Watch Company. Mr. Raymond
was one of the pioneers in developing Lake Forest as
a suburb of Chicago.
Alexander Lloyd, fourth mayor, was elected on the
Democratic ticket in 1840, and was a prominent figure
in politics of the day.
Francis C. Sherman was the fifth mayor and was
twice afterward elected to the same office, being the
twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh, his elections taking
place in 1841, 1862 and 1863. He came to Chicago in
1834; began business in a small frame hotel on Randolph
street, near Fifth avenue. In 1860 he built the Sherman
House. For a long period he was prominent in the
affairs of the city.
Augustus Garrett was seventh and ninth mayor, hav-
ing been elected in 1843 and 1845. He came to Chi-
cago in 1836 a very poor man, but amassed a large
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
29
fortune before his death, which took place in 1848. He
bequeathed a large portion of his estate to found the
Garrett Biblical Institute of Evanston.
Alson Smith Sherman was the eighth mayor,
elected in 1844. He was born in Barre, Vermont, April
21, 1811, was married February 26, 1833, and arrived in
Chicago November i, 1836. He was a successful
builder, making a specialty of masonry, and erected
many of the early buildings of Chicago. He was a pub-
lic-spirited man, was elected alderman twice, one time
chief of the fire department, ten years on the board of
water commissioners and also school trustee. He was
one of the organizers- of the Illinois Stone & Lime Corn-
in 1833. He was a member of the legislature in 1842,
was elected to Congress in 1854 and assisted Stephen A.
Douglas in obtaining the appropriation for the Chicago
postoffice and customhouse.
Walter S. Gurnee was the fifteenth and sixteenth
mayor, being elected in 1851 and 1852. He was a
prominent man for many years in Chicago, and one of
the original directors of the Board of Trade.
Charles M. Gray, the seventeenth mayor of Chicago,
was elected in 1853. He was a pioneer in the manufac-
turing of farming implements.
Isaac L. Milliken, the eighteenth mayor (1854),
began his career as a blacksmith, served two terms in
HUMBOLDT PARK.
pany. He retired from business in 1873, and resided at
Waukegan until his death in September, 1904.
John P. Chapin, the tenth mayor, elected in 1846,
was a prominent commission merchant. He was a mem-
ber of the city council previous to his election as mayor.
James Curtis, the eleventh mayor, was also the four-
teenth mayor, first being elected in 1847 and again in
1850. He was a prominent lawyer, and. like Mr. Cha-
pin, represented his ward, the Third, in the city council
previous to his being made chief magistrate.
James H. Woodworth was the twelfth and thirteenth
mayor, being elected in 1848 and 1849. He was born in
Washington County, New York, and came to Chicago
the city council and was on the judicial bench when
he was elected mayor.
Dr. Levi D. Boone was the nineteenth mayor of Chi-
cago (1855). He was a grandnephew of Kentucky's
famous pioneer of that name. He came to Chicago in
1836, and was made city physician in 1848. He was
elected mayor in 1855 by the native American party.
He also was arrested, like Mayor Morris, in 1864, for
supposed conspiracy to free the rebel prisoners in Camp
Douglas, but was honorably acquitted.
Thomas Dyer, twentieth mayor (1856), had been a
prominent citizen of Chicago for many years. In 1848
he was president of the Chamber of Commerce.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
John \Yent\vorth ("Long- John") was the twenty-
first and twenty-fourth mayor, being elected first in
1857 and afterward in 1860. He was born at Sandwich,
New Hampshire, in 1815, and came to Chicago in 1836.
He soon became a well-known character. He was a
lawyer and editor. He was a Democrat, but a strong
anti-slavery man, and both times he was mayor was
elected on the Republican ticket. He was a large man,
standing six feet, six inches in his stockings.
John C. Haines, the twenty-second and twenty-third
mayor (1858 and 1859), was born in New York and
elected mayor in 1865 on the ticket of the Union party,
and was reflected in 1867.
Roswell B. Mason was the thirtieth mayor (1869).
Mr. Mason was elected on a People's ticket. Municipal
affairs were in bad shape and there were charges of
corruption and peculations by officeholders and con-
tractors, and an aroused public sentiment brought about
an era of reform, and Mr. Mason was elected as a reform
executive.
Joseph Medill, thirty-first mayor (1871), was elected
011 the Fireproof ticket, while the city was still a mas.s of
DOUGLAS PARK.
came to Chicago in 1835. In 1848 he was elected a
member of the city council and served for six years.
He was a member of the constitutional convention in
1869 and a member of the Illinois Senate in 1874.
Julian S. Rumsey, twenty-fifth mayor (1861), was
long a prominent man in business and municipal circles
in the city. He was twice president of the board and
occupied several important offices.
John B. Rice, the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth
mayor, elected in 1865 and 1867, settled in Chicago in
1847. He built a theater on Dearborn street, near
Randolph, which was probably the pioneer playhouse,
which he managed until 1857. He was nominated and
smoking ruins. He was for many years the principal
owner and editor of the Chicago Tribune. He was born
at St. Johns, New Brunswick, of Scotch-Irish parentage,
in 1823. In 1873 he relinquished the office of mayor,
and on account of his health took a trip to Europe.
Lester L. Bond was elected by the council to serve out
his term of office, which he did with great credit under
embarrassing circumstances.
Harvey D. Colvin was the thirty-second mayor
(1873). He was elected on the People's ticket. He was
one of the organizers of the United States Express
Company in 1854, and was a long time its general agent
in this city. His term of office was rather a stormy one.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
31
Monroe Heath was the thirty-third and thirty-fourth
mayor of Chicago, being first elected at a special elec-
tion under the amended charter of the city in the sum-
mer of 1875, and reelected April, 1877. He was born
in New Hampshire in 1827 and came to Chicago in
1850. He was a painter and a dealer in paint materials.
His firm was first Heath & Hurd, and afterward Heath
& Milligan. He was a man of good executive ability,
public-spirited, taking an active part in municipal affairs.
He died at Asheville, North Carolina, October 21, 1894.
Carter H. Harrison, the first, was the thirty-fifth,
thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth mayor,
having been elected successively in 1879, 1881, 1883
and 1885. He was born in Fayette County, Kentucky,
February 25, 1825, and came to Chicago in 1855- He
did not appear very much in public matters until 1871,
when he was elected a member of the board of county
commissioners. He soon became an active and influen-
tial member of the board and developed great popu-
larity with the Democratic party, and was elected to
Congress, where he managed to increase his popularity
with his party and secure a stronger hold on the political
organization. In 1879 he was first elected mayor of the
city, and, as said before, was reelected three times, con-
tinuing mayor for eight years. While he was severely
criticised during this time for his leniency toward gam-
blers and other violators of the law, he was very .success-
ful in managing the business and financial interests of the
city, and, although a strong partisan, he never permitted
politics to interfere with the character of the school
board, and husbanded the earnings of the waterworks
with great care, managing this branch of the city's busi-
ness successfully. In 1887 he was not a candidate for
reelection, but retired from the field. In 1893 he ran
as an independent candidate and was elected, defeating
both the Republican and regular Democratic tickets,
thus becoming the forty-second mayor. He was mayor
at the time of the World's Fair, and was given great
credit for the very satisfactory manner in which he per-
formed the duties of his office. In October of that year,
just before the close of the World's Fair, he was assas-
sinated at the door of his house by a half-crazy imbecile,
who imagined that he had been slighted by the mayor
in not receiving some political appointment. Upon the
death of Mayor Harrison, the city council selected
George B. Swift as acting mayor. A special election for
mayor, however, was held in December. George B.
Swift was the Republican candidate and John P. Hop-
kins the Democratic candidate. Hopkins was elected.
John A. Roche, the thirty-ninth mayor, was born in
Utica, New York, August 12, 1844. He came to Chi-
cago in 1869 as the representative of a manufacturer of
machinery. \Yhile Mr. Roche was quite well known
in business circles, still with the people his name was
quite new when he was nominated in 1887. He was
elected and made a very creditable administration. He
JOHN A. ROCHE.
made political mistakes, however, and though renomi-
nated in 1889 was defeated by DeWitt C. Cregier, who
was at that time the Democratic candidate.
DeWitt C. Cregier was the fortieth mayor, elected
in 1889. He was born in New York, June i, 1829, and
came to Chicago in 1853, where he lived until his death,
which occurred November 9, 1898. He had been quite
prominent in municipal affairs. He was for many years
superintendent of the waterworks of the city and made
a very efficient and satisfactory officer. Afterward he
was commissioner of public -works. He was a promi-
nent Mason and had as many personal acquaintances as
any man in the city. His administration, however,
proved not only unsatisfactory to his own party, but
especially so to the Republicans. He did not seem to
have the firm hand or strong will of Mr. Harrison, and
failed to keep the business of his office entirely under his
own control. Though he was nominated by the Demo-
cratic convention for reelection in 1891 he was defeated.
Hempstead Washburne, son of the Hon. Elihu
Washburne, and the forty-first mayor of Chicago, was
born in Galena, Illinois, November 12, 1852. He fitted
for college, but went abroad and entered the University
at Bonn, Germany, in the fall of 1871, and remained
there two years, returning in 1873, ancl began the study
of law, graduating at the Union College of Law in
Chicago in 1875. He then entered actively into prac-
32
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
tice. In 1885 lie was elected city attorney of Chicago,
and in 1887 reflected to the same office. In 1891 he
was nominated by the Republicans for the office of
mayor. The administration of DeWitt C. Cregier, the
Democratic mayor, had been displeasing to Democrats
generally and to Carter H. Harrison, former mayor,
especially, and upon Mr. Cregier's renomination Mr.
Harrison announced himself as an independent candi-
date. This divided the Democratic vote and elected
Mr. Washburne mayor. He was appointed one of the
municipal civil service commissioners in 1897, but in
1898 resigned the position. He is still in active busi-
ness in the city.
John P. Hopkins, the forty-third mayor of Chicago,
was elected to that position in December, 1893, defeat-
ing George B. Swift, the Republican nominee, both
being candidates for the unexpired term of Carter H.
Harrison, who had been assassinated, as mentioned
above. Mr. Hopkins was the youngest man that ever
held the position of mayor of Chicago. He was born
in Buffalo, New York, October 29, 1858, being just past
his thirty-fifth year at the time of his election. His biog-
raphers say that he is a self-made man. His father and
brothers being deceased, he had to start out not only
to make a living for himself, but to take care of his
mother and family. His first employment as a mere
boy was working in a foundry. Afterward he worked
in the grain elevators at Buffalo. In 1879 he came to
Chicago, bringing his mother and sisters with him. For
a time he worked irij the Pullman works, and in 1883
became the -paymaster of the Pullman interests, which
position he filled until 1885. His administration of the
office of mayor was much more satisfactory to the Dem-
ocrats than to citizens generally.
George B. Swift, the forty-fourth mayor of Chicago
and now president of the contracting firm of George
B. Swift Company, was born at Cincinnati, Ohio,
December 14, 1845. While he was an infant his parents
removed to Galena, Illinois, whence the family came to
Chicago, in 1862. He received his education in the old
Skinner School, the West Chicago High School, and
later at the Chicago University, from which institution
he was graduated with credit. He then went into busi-
ness, and in 1870 became vice-president of the Frazer
Lubricator Company, which position he still holds.
From 1876 he took an active part in local politics, serv-
ing several terms in the council and familiarizing him-
self with the various municipal problems. During the
administration of Mayor Roche, from 1887 to 1889, he
served as Commissioner of Public Works. In 1893 he
was nominated for mayor by the Republican party, for
the unexpired term of Carter H. Harrison, who had
been assassinated, but was defeated by John P. Hopkins,
the Democratic nominee, by a narrow margin. He ran
again in 1895, defeating- Frank Wenter by a large
majority. When he assumed his executive duties he
was thoroughly familiar with local conditions and the
city's business affairs. He showed a capacity for munic-
ipal management and gave the city an excellent adminis-
tration ; he created the department system which has
since proven a saving to tax-payers. He was popular
as a mayor, and served a full term, but business interests
prevented his accepting a second nomination. He has
since devoted himself entirely to his extensive con-
GEORGE B. SWIFT.
tracting and building business. Mr. Swift was married
in 1868 to Miss Lucy Brown, daughter of Joseph E.
Brown, one of the pioneers of Chicago, who came here
in 1835. They have seven children, four sons and three
daughters. He belongs to the Masonic, Pythian, Royal
Arcanum and Royal League orders, and is a member of
the Methodist church.
Carter H. Harrison, the son of the former mayor
of the city, was the forty-fifth, forty-sixth, forty-seventh
and forty-eighth mayor of Chicago. He was born in
this city April 23, 1860, and so far as records show is
the only mayor of Chicago who was born here. He
was graduated from the public schools and from St.
Ignatius College in 1881. From there he \vent to
Yale Law School, getting his degree in 1883. He made
little effort to practice his profession, but entered busi-
ness with his brother. His father purchased The Times
in 1891, and his son took charge of the editorial man-
agement of the paper, assuming complete control when
his father was killed at the close of the World's Fair.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Shortly afterwards the paper was consolidated with the
Herald. He was first elected mayor April 6, 1897, and
re-elected in 1899, 1901 and 1903.
Edward F. Dunne, the forty-eighth and present
mayor of Chicago, is in many ways the most remarkable
chief executive the city has ever had. Resigning his
place on the Circuit bench of Cook County to become
mayor of the second city of the United States, he
brought with him an experience and learning possessed
by few, if any, of the other chief executives this munici-
pality has had. His personality, his family life, his char-
acter as a citizen always have stamped him as a remark-
able man. His campaign and election were character-
istic. Opposed to him was a combination of news-
papers and moneyed interests which would easily have
swamped a less vigorous personality. The great traction
issue was at stake. Mayor Dunne entered the fight
when the opposition had lined up seemingly irresistible
forces. His success and the defeat of John Maynard
Harlan, the traction candidate, was in many ways the
most remarkable political performance Chicago has
ever witnessed. Judge Dunne in his campaign pledged
himself to work out the idea of municipal ownership
as applied to public utilities in Chicago and particu-
larly to the public service corporations as typified by
street car companies. The manner in which he has
started to carry out his ideas fully justifies the faith
that his friends and constituents have in his ability and
integrity.
Edward Fitzsimons Dunne was born at Waterville,
Connecticut, October 12, 1853. His parents, Patrick
AY. Dunne and Delia M. Dunne, came to New York
from Ireland in 1849. Within a year after their son
Edward was born they moved to Peoria, Illinois, and
here the future mayor spent his youth and early man-
hood. His father prospered in business and held a
number of important offices. He served as alderman
several years and was also a member of the Illinois
legislature.
The father's prosperity enabled him to send his son
to Trinity College in Dublin to complete his education.
The son's career at Trinity for three years was marked
with success. He became the first honor man of his
class and expected to be graduated with distinction at
the close of another year. His father, however, suffered
business reverses during the depression of the early
7o's, and the son was forced to give up his work at
Trinity. He returned to Peoria and entered his father's
mill, continuing his studies, however, with the view
of entering the legal profession. He came to Chicago
in 1876 to continue his law studies and the next year
was admitted to the bar.
In partnership with such distinguished lawyers as
Judge Scates. formerly of the Supreme Court of Illi-
3
nois, and Congressman Hynes, Mr. Dunne built up a
large practice, to which he devoted his energies for fif-
teen years. He withdrew from practice in 1892, upon
being elected to fill a vacancy on the Circuit Court
bench. Here he soon began to make a record for judi-
cial ability and fidelity, which, strengthening as it grew,
secured his re-election in 1897 and again in 1903. His
nomination for the latter election was indorsed by the
bar association and the various good government
organizations and newspapers, and was confirmed by a
popular vote which fell but slightly short only of the
EDWARD F. DUNNE.
highest — that which was cast at the same time for the
venerable and revered Judge Murray F. Tuley.
Judge Dunne had meanwhile married with Elizabeth.
J. Kelly of Chicago, at Chicago in 1881. They have had
thirteen children, of whom ten are still living. These
range in years from seventeen to two.
In the course of his thirteen years' service on the
bench, Judge Dunne decided many important cases,
some of them involving clashes over partisan and class
interests; but he never fell under suspicion of bias, and
only a small percentage of his decisions were reversed.
His judicial reputation, no less with the judiciary and
at the bar than among the people, measured up to a
high standard. Yet he always refused conformity to
judicial conventionalities that tend to alienate the sym-
pathies of judges from the common life and the common
interests, and are therefore supposed to shield them
from demoralizing influences. His insistence upon his
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
freedom as a citizen notwithstanding his judicial office,
did not disturb his judicial balance. Throughout his
career on the bench, he was a worthy example of the
citizen-judge.
Judge Dunne entered the municipal ownership
movement when it passed from the academic to the prac-
tical stage. He had been selected as a member of the
committee of aldermen and citizens appointed by Mayor
Harrison in 1902 to suggest plans for dealing with the
traction question. In December, 1902, it recommended
two bills for municipal ownership and operation, one for
street cars and the other for gas, which were largely
Dunne's work. The one relating to street cars came to
be known in the City Council, to which it was presented
for approval, as the "Finn bill." It was rejected by that
body, and the "Jackson bill" was substituted for it for
recommendation to the legislature. The Jackson bill,
recommended by the Council in the interest of the trac-
tion companies, was displaced in the legislature by the
"Mueller bill," which became a law and is now in force
in Chicago. The solution of the traction question in
accordance with the Mueller bill is the large work which
Mayor Dunne hopes to accomplish during his term as
chief executive of the city of Chicago.
GARFIELD PARK.
CHAPTER V.
c
H
I
C
A
G
O
I
N
W
A
R.
HE part taken by Chicago in the
Civil war and the war with Spain
deserves distinct recognition in any
history of Chicago, however brief.
It was wiped off the map by the
war of 1812 and was too feeble to
help much in the Black Hawk war,
of which it was almost within can-
non shot, and when the Mexican
war came it was still too small to
be taken account of. But by the spring of 1861 it was
an important' city, and by the spring of 1898 it was a
very great city.
The first public meeting in Chicago, called out by
secession, was held January 5, 1861, before the electoral
colleges of the several states had met at their respective
capitals to choose a president. The rebellion was ram-
pant at Charleston. The people of Chicago, irrespec-
tive of party, proclaimed their loyalty to the flag at that
time. When the first call for volunteers came and Gov-
ernor Yates issued his proclamation April 15, 1861,
announcing Illinois' quota, Chicago lost no time in
responding. At noon on the 2ist day of that month
General Swift left Chicago with 595 men and four six-
pound pieces of artillery, going directly to Cairo.
Three clays before the first Chicago troops turned
to the front a mass meeting was held in Chicago, at
which a Union defense fund was started, which, before
the close of the next day, reached $36.000. The banks
of the city tendered Governor Yates a loan of $500,000
in advance of the assembling of the legislature. Mili-
tary companies, which had been organized in time of
peace, sometimes sneered at as mere dress parade
affairs, promptly tendered their services. The most
conspicuous of these organizations were the Chicago
Zouaves, who, under the gallant Ellsworth, won a
renown hardly less than that of the Rough Riders in
Cuba, although the Roosevelt of the organization did
not survive to receive political honors at the hand of
a grateful people.
The first call for 75,000 volunteers for three months
opened the way for six regiments from Illinois. Chi-
cago had only about 110,000 inhabitants then, but had
the spirit to gladly supply the entire quota, if allowed
to do so. The six Illinois regiments were numbered
seven to twelve. The state had sent six regiments to
the Mexican war, and the enumeration was a continu-
ance. Chicago contributed two companies to the
Twelfth Illinois Volunteer Infantry ; the Zouaves and
Swift's men were later incorporated in the Nineteenth
regiment and mustered into the three years' service
May 4, 1861. The Twenty-third was a Chicago regi-
ment, led by the brave Colonel James A. Mulligan.
That was the first Chicago regiment to see service on
the battlefield. It was the Irish regiment of Chicago.
Through it Chicago received its baptism of bloodshed
in the holy cause of the Union at Lexington, Missouri,
September 18, 1861. The German regiment was the
Twenty-fourth, commanded by Colonel Hecker, who
had fought for liberty in his native country. The Thir-
ty-seventh was organized by a well-known and highly-
honored Chicagoan, Julius White. The Thirty-ninth,
known as the Yates' Phalanx was mustered in during
the summer. A young Chicago lawyer, Thomas O.
Osborne was elected colonel, but modestly chose to
be major. He worked his way up to general. The
Forty-second was organized in Chicago. It entered the
service in September of the first year of the war, William
A. Webb being colonel. The Chicago Legion, as it was
called, the Fifty-first regiment, entered the service
December 4, Colonel Gilbert W. Gumming command-
ing. The Fifty-seventh, the last of the Illinois regi-
ments of the first vear of the war, who were made up
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
in whole or in part of Chicago troops, was mustered in
Decmber 26, Silas D. Baldwin, colonel.
Hardly had 1862 opened before the "McClellan
Brigade," as it was popularly called, came into military
existence as the Fifty-eighth regiment. Colonel Will-
iam F. Lynch commanded it. In May the Sixty-fifth,
or Scotch regiment, was mustered in, Daniel Cameron
at its head. In August the famous Board of Trade
regiment, the Seventy-second, moved into battle line,
Hundred and Thirteenth, "Third Board of Trade Regi-
ment," commanded by Colonel George B. Hoge, and
the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh, under Colonel
John Van Arnam. All these were infantry regiments,
and the latter won the distinction of having marched
3,000 miles and been under fire in one hundred engage-
ments. Every one of these regiments rendered gallant
service on the field.
Chicago was well represented in three calvalry regi-
AUDITORIUM BUILDING.
Colonel F. A. Staring in command and Joseph Stock-
ton next in rank. The Eighty-second was called the
"Second Hecker Regiment," being German in its
make-up, and at first under the command of Colonel
Hecker, who was succeeded by Colonel E. S. Soloman.
This regiment entered the service early in the fall of
1862. So did the Eighty-eighth, or "Second Board of
Trade Regiment," commanded by Colonel Francis T.
Sherman. Also the Eighty-ninth, or "Railroad Regi-
ment," Colonel Hotchkiss; the Ninetieth, the "First
Legion," under Colonel Timothy O'Meara; the One
merits, which were early in the field, the Fourth, Eighth,
Ninth, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Sixteenth and Seventeenth.
They were mainly recruited from Northern Illinois,
outside of Chicago, but this city was represented in them
all, but more especially in the Eighth, which had for
its major W. H. Medill of Chicago. The Board of
Trade Battery was mustered in August i, 1862, and the
Chicago Mercantile Battery four weeks later. No less
than forty-six commissioned officers, who were either
killed in battle or died soon after of wounds, entered
the service from Chicago. These are dry facts, but
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to go into further particulars without invidious dis-
crimination would take too much space. For a city of
only little more than 100,000 inhabitants it is a proud
record to have been represented in so many regiments
and batteries.
But the most prominent feature of the military rec-
ord of Chicago during the war of the rebellion was
the Camp Douglas affair. That camp was designed
to be a rendezvous for Illinois volunteers, but it was
actually used as a military prison. Fort Donelson fell
in February, 1862, and Island No. TO was captured
about the same time. Between 8,000 and 9,000 prison-
ers, who fell into our hands in consequence of those
two victories, were sent here to Camp Douglas. Many
of these prisoners died. The season of the year was
unfavorable. Southern men were not accustomed to the
rigor of the winter on the shore of Lake Michigan.
Many died of pneumonia. Chicago raised a generous
fund for providing the prisoners with the comforts
required, and our physicians gave them medical care.
But many died. Still later came smallpox. Out of
12,000 prisoners, 1,150 died.
But the feature which made it specially famous was
the great conspiracy that was concocted in 1864. The
funds for it and the details of it were attributed to
Jacob Thompson, then in Canada, but formerly Secre-
tary of the Navy under Buchanan. Knights of the
Golden Circle were in the plot. The conspiracy had
for its diabolical object not simply the delivery of
the prisoners, but the burning of the town. Buckner
T. Morris, the second mayor of Chicago, was arrested
on the charge of being one of the conspirators, but he
was acquitted. The plot was discovered only just in
time to save the city. Colonel B. J. Sweet, the com-
mander of the camp, has received a great deal of credit
for saving the city, but not as much as he deserves.
One of the parks should perpetuate the glorious rescue
in fitting bronze, Colonel Sweet being the central fig-
ure. Richmond fell only a few months after the great
deliverance of Chicago.
In the Civil war, as has been shown, Chicago boys,
whether infantry or cavalry, were scattered through
regiments largely rural, but in the Spanish war regi-
ments were made up largely on geographical lines. The
strictly Chicago regiments of infantry were the First,
led by Col. Henry L. Turner ; the Second, commanded
by Colonel George M. Moulton ; the Fifth, Colonel
Culver's regiment; the Seventh. Colonel Marcus Kav-
anaugh. The Eighth (colored) had four companies
from Chicago and four from the rest of the state. Its
gallant colonel. John R. Marshall, was from Chicago.
All officers, from colonel down, were colored, and both
the regiment as a whole and every officer made a good
record. It was the first colored regiment in the country
to be officered by men of the same race, and a great
deal of interest was felt in the result. It was so satis-
factory as to be highly creditable to all concerned.
Chicago was well represented in the famous Rough
Riders, and Companies E and F of the Second United
States Volunteer Engineers were supplied by Chicago,
and through them Chicago should have the honor of
being the first to land in the province of Havana.
Colonel Edward C. Young was commissioned by Gov-
ernor Tanner to raise a regiment of cavalry, and of it
CHICAGO SAVINGS BANK.
Companies A, C, E, F, H, I and M were recruited
in Chicago. Illinois took an honorable part in the
naval battles of the war through the naval reserves,
largely a Chicago orgaization. These "jackies" did
not ask to be kept together, but patriotically consented
to be distributed and placed where they could do the
most good.
These meager facts give little idea of the heroic
part taken by Chicago either in the Civil war or the
later war with Spain. It would trench too much the
limited space of this municipal history to recount inci-
dents in detail, however glorious. For such details,
especially of the Civil war, the reader is referred to
Andreas' "Awakening of the \Yar Spirit in Chicago."
CHAPTER VI.
CHICAGO'S GREAT FIRE DISASTERS.
HICAGO has had two great disasters
that stand out above all other mis-
fortunes that overtook the city dur-
ing its first century. These were
the great fire of 1871. which burned
over 2.124 acres in the very heart of
the city, and the Iroquois theater fire
on December 30, 1903, which wiped
out 575 lives.
The fire of 1871 was the greatest
property loss in the history of mod-
ern times, and left 100,000, or a third of
the population of the city, homeless. The summer of
1871 had been particularly hot and dry, this weather
continuing till late in the fall. Very little rain had fallen
for some weeks and everything that was exposed to the
air and would burn was as dry as tinder. Much of the
early building construction in the city was of frame, and
even the stone and brick buildings were of an inflamma-
ble character. There were in reality two fires. The fire
of October 7 broke out near the corner of Clinton and
Van Buren streets, and all the territory between that
and the river and Adams street was burned over. That
in itself was a great fire and would have been considered
a very disastrous one but for the overshadowing great-
ness of the one that began on Sunday night, October 9,
on De Koven street, on the West Side, a little east of
Jefferson street. For two days and nights Chicago
was a sea of flames and then a blackened desert. Every-
thing seemed favorable for the destruction of the city.
In addition to the tinder dried condition of all wood-
work, a strong southwest wind prevailed, and as the
fire increased the wind seemed to increase with it.
\Yhole blocks of buildings were carried away, as if they
had melted in the flames. The number of acres burned
over by the fire of Saturday night was twenty-seven,
but the great fire of October 9 burned over 194 acres
on the West Side, 460 acres on the South Side, and
1,470 acres on the North Side. Over 3,650 buildings
were burned on the South Side and 13,300 buildings on
the North Side. On the North Side, by something like
a miracle, a large frame building, the residence of
Mahlon B. Ogden, standing in the center of a block, was
saved from the flames.
At the time of the fire the city comprised an area
of 11,520 acres. The population of the city was some-
thing over 300,000. Fully 100,000 of these were left
houseless and homeless, many of them penniless. The
pecuniary damage by these fires is estimated at $290,-
000,000. On the property thus destroyed there was
$100,000,000 of insurance, on which $45.000,000 were
realized. Fifty-six insurance companies were ruined.
The marvelous extent of the disaster and the ruin
wrought was published far and wide. All the world
became familiar with it within forty-eight hours. The
benevolence and philanthropy of the world was stirred
as it seldom has been and relief came pouring in from
every quarter — money, clothing and provisions. A
more prompt and noble response to distress has perhaps
never been known. Over $4.000,000 was contributed
in money for immediate relief, almost all nations, from
England to Japan, contributing a portion, but, of course,
the great mass of the relief funds came from American
citizens. This wonderful response of the people of the
world aroused the Chicago people to immediate action,
and they organized not only for the purpose of properly
distributing the great relief fund which came to them,
but for the purpose of rebuilding the city. The prompt
action of the solvent and energetic business men of the
city soon restored confidence, not only to their fellow
citizens, but to the people abroad, and capital was
offered from all financial centers for the purpose of
rebuilding Chicago. No city ever presented a busier
scene than Chicago did for the next eighteen months.
38
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
39
Within one year from the time of the fire it is said that
more than one-half of the 80,000 feet frontage which
had been burned in the south division was rebuilt with
buildings more substantial and better than before. It is
estimated that over $30,000,000 within that time was
put into rebuilding the city, and it is quite probable that
at least $50,000,000 were spent in rebuilding within two
years from the time of the fire. The rapidity with which
the rebuilding was accomplished and the great influx of
population on account of the demand for labor tended
to keep Chicago before the whole country all the time.
It was hardlv less talked about in social circles or written
and its succeeding resurrection from its ashes. The
great fire in 1871 and the World's Columbian Exposition
in 1893 each marks an epoch in the progress and fame
of the city.
The Iroquois theater fire was the most disastrous
catastrophe in the number of lives lost in the history of
Chicago. On the afternoon of Wednesday, December
30, 1903, during a holiday matinee performance the
scenery caught fire and the flames bursting through
the flimsy asbestos fire curtain swept through the audi-
torium of the theater, causing the death of 575 men,
women and children. There were 2,300 people in the
NATATORIUM, .DOUGLASS PARK.
about in the newspapers during that time than it had
been during the excitement of the fire itself. What was
a great disaster to individual citizens, and at the time
seemed to be so to the city itself, turned out eventually
as the most efficient promoter of Chicago's greatness.
Taken as a whole, the fire was the most wonderful
advertisement that ever any city had, and the prompt
action and energy shown by the people in rebuilding the
city so suddenly destroyed turned it into a most favora-
ble advertisement, and Chicago became a synonym for
energy, determination and business sagacity. No inter-
nal city in any nation is so well known among other
nations to-day as Chicago, and in large part it owes this
general information in regard to itself to the great fire
audience when the fire broke out, and a third of them
were either killed or injured.
"Mr. Blue Beard" was the attraction and the theater
had just been completed a few weeks and was pro-
nounced the finest and most modern and fireproof
structure of the kind in the United States. It had been
built at a cost of approximately $1,000,000. and had
been inspected and approved by the building depart-
ment as fully meeting all the requirements of the city
ordinances. Investigation after the disaster showed that
the construction had been faulty in many particulars,
and that no provision had been made for the speedy
opening of the exits in case of a panic.
Of the 575 victims, most of them were women and
40
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
children. The greatest loss of life occurred at the exits
of the main balcony. Here over three hundred were
found piled in an indescribable mass of torn and bleeding
limbs and bodies. In the frantic rush for safety they had
become piled and jammed in the entrance, and, overcome
by the wave of flame and smoke sweeping through the
auditorium from the stage, had been burned and suffo-
cated to death. Every ambulance and patrol wagon in
the city was called into use and the neighboring
restaurants and stores were turned into temporary
morgues and hospitals. Heroic efforts were made to
resuscitate those who had not been burned to death, and
in many cases the treatment was successful, materially
reducing the total number of deaths. For days the
undertakers' morgues were filled with bodies awaiting
identification. Friends and relatives of missing persons
searched these places for weeks looking for missing
persons. All were identified finally.
Every theater in the city was ordered closed the day
after the fire, and it was a month before any of them
opened again. Several of them did not open for two
or three months, and in some instances they were
entirely remodeled. The Iroquois did not open for
nearly a year, and then under a new name. The mem-
ory of the terrible loss of life after nearly two years still
clings to the place and it has never been popular since.
Efforts were made at the time of the fire to have it
turned into a memorial hospital, but these failed.
There was a determined demand for the prosecution
of the managers and officials responsible for the condi-
tions in the theater which made such a calamity possible.
Will J. Davis, Harry J. Powers and managers of the
Iroquois, and George Williams, building commissioner,
were arrested the day following the fire on warrants
sworn out by the father of one family that had been
wiped out by the holocaust. These prosecutions were
not pressed. An exhaustive investigation was made by
the coroner and a special jury impaneled for the pur-
pose. In its verdict the jury held Mayor Harrison,
\Yill J. Davis, Commissioner Williams, Edward Lough-
lin, the building inspector who passed the theater, Will-
iam H. Musham, fire chief. William Sailers, city fireman
stationed at the theater, William McMullen, who
operated the spot light which started the fire, and James
E. Cummings, stage superintendent of the Troquois
stage, to the grand jury. Mayor Harrison was freed
from custody the next day on habeas corpus pro-
ceedings.
On February 20 following the special grand jury
returned indictments against Manager Davis, Thomas
Noonan, treasurer of the theater, and Cummings, the
stage superintendent, for manslaughter and against
Commissioner Williams and Inspector Loughlin for
neglect of duty. "No bills" were voted in the cases
against Mayor Harrison, Chief Musham, Sailers and
McMullen. No convictions have resulted from the
indictments and the chances are that no one will ever be
legally held responsible for the horror that cost 575
lives.
As a result of the agitation against firetrap theaters
following the holocaust, conditions in all the public
places of amusement in Chicago and cities all over the
country have been improved. Shocked by the terrible
conditions revealed immediately after the fire the mayor
called a special sesson of the council. A committee of
investigation was appointed and a new theater ordinance
drawn up. Under the stress of feeling at the time it was
made most drastic, and while it has not been rigidly
enforced, its provisions have been complied with to such
an extent that every playhouse and place of gathering
has been made more safe. In general terms the new
law requires that theaters must be provided with steel
curtains which are lowered at the end of even,' act ; the
stage must be of fireproof construction, and be provided
with flues and vents in the roof and automatic sprinklers ;
aisles and exits must be increased and the seating
capacity reduced ; no one is allowed to stand in the aisles
and all exits must be shown on a diagram of the theater
on the program; four sides of the theater must be
detached or provided with fireproof enclosed passages;
fire apparatus and fire-alarm systems must be installed
and two members of the fire department stationed in
each theater.
A flood of damage suits have been filed against
Klaw & Erlanger, the owners of the Iroquois, aggregat-
ing into the millions. None of these has been pushed
to a successful conclusion up to this time (1905).
CHAPTER VII.
THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
HICAGO is the county seat of one of
the best agricultural counties of Illi-
nois, but has never had a county
fair. That pride and joy of the aver-
age farmer's heart was denied the
tillers of the rich soil of Cook
County. Once the state fair was
held in Chicago, but it was not a
success. For several years an In-
terstate Exposition, as it was called,
was held on the Lake Front, but it
v' . was not particularly creditable. At least,
it made a poor showing as compared with the somewhat
analogous exposition given by St. Louis. It was only
natural that when this city entered the list as a competi-
tor for the great Columbian Exposition, in honor of the
fourth centennial of the discovery of America, there
should be a strong opposition. The selection was to be
made by Congress, and New York insisted that it was
entitled to it, as the great metropolis of the new world.
The decision in favor of Chicago was made in April,
1890. The fair itself was opened three years later.
By the term of the act of Congress the "World's
Columbian Exposition" was to be "an exhibition of arts,
industries, manufactures and products of the soil, mines
and sea." The sum of money to be guaranteed by
Chicago under the act was $10,000,000. One-half of
this amount was raised by subscription. The other half
was raised by an issue of city bonds. There was a great
obstacle in the way of a bond issue. The constitution
of the state had to be amended before the city could
incur the indebtedness, and the initiative had to be
taken by the General Assembly, in special session, called
for that purpose by the governor, Joseph Fifer. To
remove these obstacles was quite as formidable a task
as to raise the $5,000,000 by subscription. In August
of that same year the special session was held, and the
amendment was ratified at the state election of that
November.
Another perplexing problem was, where should the
fair be held? In looking back upon the exposition it
is a matter of surprise that there should have been the
slightest hesitation on the subject. The site selected
was ideal. If it had been made for that purpose it
could not have been improved upon. That portion of
Jackson Park facing on the lake afforded every advan-
tage. But for a long time it seemed to many that the
best place would be the lake front, between Randolph
and Twelfth streets, making such addition by filling in
as might be necessary. The decision of the question
was not made until nearly one year after the act of
Congress had been passed. From that time on the
work of preparation was prosecuted with astonishing
vigor, and on a very large scale. The grounds were
laid out and beautified at great expense, and no less than
fourteen exposition buildings proper were erected, each
in itself a grand example of architecture. Some of
them were marvels of beauty, and each was admirably
adapted to its specific purpose. The Manufactures and
Liberal Arts building, 1,687x787 feet, was the most
gigantic of them all, and the Administration building
the most artistic, but each was in its way most admir-
able. If built of the whitest marble, instead of perish-
able "staff," they would have presented no more
entrancing effect. "The White City," as it was called,
was a sight well worth a journey around the world to
see, even if one saw only the buildings and grounds.
No permanent city could vie with it as a triumph of
architecture.
Besides the buildings erected by the exposition com-
pany, and their annexes, the government of the United
States had a magnificent structure for its own exhibits.
So, too, did seventeen foreign countries, thirty-eight
states and three territories. Manv exhibitors and con-
41
42
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
cessionists put up structures of their own. Many foreign
nations and colonies, which had separate buildings of
their own, contributed to the exhibits. Foreign gov-
ernments expended, it is estimated, $6,000,000 for the
cost of their exhibits. No doubt private exhibitors from
abroad expended more than that amount.
The exposition opened May I, 1893, and closed
October 31. During those six months the total attend-
ance, as shown by the turnstile registries, was 27,539-
521. The actual paid admissions were 21,478,218. Of
course many persons made many visits. It is impossi-
ble to estimate how many different persons saw the
exposition, but there must have been several millions.
The greatest number of any one day was on October 9,
the twenty-second anniversary of the great fire. That
was called Chicago day. and it seemed as if the whole
city swarmed into the White City. The turnstile records
of that one day showed 716,881 visitors.
The condensed balance sheet of the auditor showed
a grand total of funds of $28,151,168.75. It is a low
estimate to place the cost of the fair, including public
appropriations and expenditures of exhibitors, at
$50,000,000. The cost to visitors cannot be computed.
But no one can intelligently doubt that the general
benefits were incomparably greater than the actual
cost. Many persons lost money in business ventures
which proved unprofitable, and much disappointment
was experienced, but the general public derived enor-
mous benefits from the exposition.
In the management of the exposition many persons
deserve very great credit, but a few names are entitled
to distinct recognition and grateful remembrance. No
one individual did more to make the exposition a brill-
iant success than Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer, presi-
dent of the Board of Lady Managers. She had never
been tried in any public duty, but she proved to have
remarkable executive ability and a broad, clear and
far-reaching judgment. Lyman J. Gage, Ferdinand W.
Peck, Harlow N. Higinbotham, Thomas P. Bryan,
George R. Davis and T. W. Palmer each gave much
time to the enterprise and did much in his own way to
make the exposition a great success.
One of the more notable features of the exposition
was the series of "congresses" gotten up in connection
with the exposition. Charles C. Bonney deserves to be
called the author and finisher of this auxiliary part of
the fair. He and the late Professor Swing each sug-
gested this department, but neither knew anything of
the other's plan. Professor Swing was an idealist and
was content to merely suggest the plan, but Mr. Bonney
took a practical view of the matter, and the managers
gave him every facility for carrying out his project.
The most notable of these congresses was the Parlia-
ment of Religion. The head of the committee having
this in charge was the Rev. Dr. John Henry Barrows,
then pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Chi-
cago, now president of Oberlin College. Eminent
religionists from all over the world were in attendance
and the public interest in the poceedings was wide-
spread and intense. The cause of religious unity and
fellowship was materially promoted.
As for the exposition as a whole ,it was conceded to
be the grandest and most successful world's fair ever
held. It did much to establish the reputation of Chi-
cago as one of the greatest cities, of the world. From
that time on it has been wholly free from the belittle-
ment of a provincial reputation. That celebration of
the fourth centennial of the discovery of the new world
was a mere episode in the history of the city, but it will
ever stand as one of the more memorable landmarks of
Chicago's great municipal career.
This exposition occasioned some financial disap-
pointment to individuals, but to the city as a whole it
was of incalculably great benefit. It gave a wonderful
stimulus to population and contributed powerfully to
the general development of Chicago as a center of trade
and industry.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL
HEN the genius and execu-
tive ability of DeWitt Clinton
fL put New York City in all-
water communication with
the Great Lakes and the
great West, he started a
system of East and West
commerce which was of the
highest national importance.
The early coming of the then
undreamed of railroad cut
short the career of the
canals, but water continues
very great factor in overland
transportation, contradictory as the statement may
seem. What the Erie was to New York in the early
days of the century, the Illinois and Michigan Canal
was to Chicago in its municipal youth.
It was a citizen of New York who first, after Joliet
himself, recognized the importance to commerce of the
portage of Chicago. In 1810 a member of Congress
from that state, Hon. Peter B. Porter, drew the atten-
tion of Congress to the importance of connecting the
Mississippi river and Lake Michigan by building a canal
to supply the missing link in the chain of waterways
which was to extend from New Orleans to New York.
But the United States government had other matters
more pressing to look after. The second war with
England was near at hand. Four years later, however.
President Madison called the attention of Congress to
the subject, and the government organ of the day, the
Niles Register, caught a glimpse of the great possi-
bilities latent in the President's suggestion. "By the
Illinois river," it said, "it is probable that Buffalo in
New York may be united to New Orleans by inland nav-
igation through Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan an
down that river to the Mississippi." It was precisely
43
that which the Illinois and Michigan Canal did do. And
the ecstatic exclamation of the Register has also been
justified, "What a route ! How stupendous the idea !
How dwindles the importance of the artificial canals
of Europe compared to this water communication ! If
it should ever take place — and it is said the effort can
easily be made — the territory of Illinois will become the
seat of an immense commerce and a market for the
commodities of all regions." That could hardly have
been a truer prophecy had it been a veritable case of
history read backward.
It was in 1816 that the first practical step was taken.
One of the necessary preliminaries was to get rid of the
Indians. A people stolidly set against accepting civili-
zation must be removed from the path of progress. A
strip of land twenty miles wide, extending from Ottawa
to Chicago belonged to the Pottawatomies. In August,
1816, they relinquished their title to that slip. Then
the government set about exploring and getting ready
to carry out the Porter-Madison plan, or the DeWitt
Clinton plan applied to the West. The first thing was
for a United States civil engineer, Major S. H. Long,
to make a trip from Fort Clark, or Kaskaskia, to Chi-
cago. It was a long journey by boat, all the way against
the current. When he reached the Chicago river he
found it "discharged itself into the lake over a bar of
sand and gravel, in a rippling stream ten or fifteen yards
wide and only a few inches deep." The Calumet was
still worse, for the sand-bar down there was a complete
blockade. His report struck no responsive chord in
Congress. Eight years later, when the state had been
in the Union four years, Congress did pass an act grant-
ing the state authority to cut a canal through the public
lands, donating ninety feet on either side and appro-
priating $10,000 for the survey. In consideration of
this permit and the appropriation of land and money
the state agreed to allow all articles belonging to the
44
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
United States, or to any person in its employ, to pass
toll free forever. The legislature of Illinois lost no time
in getting down to business. It was conceived at that
time that Indiana might join and open up lake com-
munication by way of the Wabash, and Ohio by way of
the Maumee, but, as a matter of fact, each of the three
propositions was independent of both of the others.
It required a great deal of surveying and expert calcula-
tion to reach a definite plan. The state act incor-
porating the Illinois and Michigan Canal Company was
passed early in 1825, with a capital stock of $1,000,000.
This act was amended in the next year, in the hope of
facilitating operations. But the necessary capital could
not be raised. In 1827 Congress was induced to grant
a liberal land subsidy, namely $284,000.
Fortunately there was no Credit Mobilier to absorb
this subsidy. The state itself took it. The acts of 1825
and 1826 were virtually dead and the corporations
which they contemplated existed only on paper. In
1828 the legislature started the enterprise on a feasible
basis. Still further legislation followed in 1829. The
most important preliminary work of the first board of
canal commissioners was to lay out towns at each end
of the canal that was to be — Ottawa and Chicago.
Practically nothing was done except to lay out these
two terminal towns until 1836, when more legislation
HUMBOLDT PARK.
was had. In the meanwhile obstacles of the most serious
nature were encountered, and it looked as if the canal,
then so long talked about, never would be built. The
first spadeful of earth was thrown out on the 4th of
July, 1836. Never was Independence Day more joy-
fully celebrated than on that ever-glorious Fourth by
the people of Chicago. Everybody turned out and went
down to Bridgeport to witness the inauguration of the
enterprise. The honor of wielding the spade on that
occasion fell to the lot of Canal Commissioner Archer,
whose name lives in the diagonal avenue, or "road," as
then called, which leads from State street to Bridgeport.
But the beginning was far from the end. More years
of weary waiting and baffling toil were destined to roll
by before the canal became an accomplished fact. The
estimates of cost had been wild guesses, at least they
bore no relation to actual cost. It was not before the
crash of 1837 came and put clogs on every wheel of
internal improvements and killed forever many of the
projects. The state tottered on the brink of bank-
ruptcy. The debt incurred in building this canal was
the heaviest burden of all. The bad kept getting worse
all the time, and in 1842 came a collapse of state
finances. There seemed to be nothing left but to use the
big ditch as a grave for state honor. More than a hun-
dred contractors who were working along the line when
the state credit was exhausted had to suspend. The
total cost up to that time, as finally ascertained, was
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
45
$5,139,492.03. This was too much money to be thrown
away. Despite the old adage warning against throwing
good money after bad, the idea of giving up entirely
was not entertained. A great many bonds had been
sold, and the bondholders could not afford to let the
expenditure go to waste. It was estimated that
$1,000,000 more would finish the work, making, all
told, nearly ten times the original estimate. It took a
vast deal of negotiation to get the work started up. The
Barings of London thought well enough of the pro-
posed bonds to entertain a proposition, provided a satis-
factory report upon the enterprise was made. Who in
this country could be found to make the investigation
whose report would be accepted? Captain W. H. Swift,
a United States engineer, was one, and Senator John
Davis of Massachusetts, another. Mr. Davis was
known in his day as "Honest John.'' He was at one
time the modest colleague of the "Godlike Daniel"
Webster. After prodigious labor bonds were placed on
the institutional plan, not only English, but French,
capital helping on the enterprise. Obstacle after obsta-
cle was encountered, but at last the canal was actually
opened, and the first boat arrived in Chicago from Lock-
port, April 10, 1848. Of all the great internal improve-
ments in this country none had so hard a struggle
against such desperate odds as the Illinois and Michi-
gan Canal.
When projected it was absolutely indispensable to
the growth of Chicago to the dimensions of a great
city, and it has certainly proved of very great advantage,
but by the time it was finished it was no longer indis-
pensable. The morning star of railways had appeared
and the new day of transportation by rail was dawning
full upon the land. By that time it was plain that how-
ever much Chicago might be benefited by canal boats
its great dependence, aside from the lakes themselves,
was to be upon the railroads. As will be seen in
another chapter, the canal, by involving the state in
debt, which was in danger of repudiation, was the indi-
rect cause of the great railway extending its entire
length.
In this connection it may be remarked that about
the time the completion of the canal became a fore-
gone conclusion, Wisconsin, then coming into the
Union as a state, laid claim to a slip of northern Illi-
nois, which, if allowed, would have brought Chicago
into Wisconsin. The claim was not without a shadow
of justice. But an insuperable practical objection was
found in the fact that to allow it would involve the com-
plication dividing the ownership of the Illinois and
Michigan Canal, the great enterprise of Illinois, with
GARFIEI.D PARK.
46
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Wisconsin. Thus it is that Illinois owes a great debt
to the canal.
It is not necessary to the purposes of this history
to pursue this subject much further. Its large part in
developing the city may be said to have passed before
it went into the carrying trade. The main canal, from
Bridgeport to La Salle, is ninety-six miles long, and
the river route from Bridgeport to the Chicago harbor
is four miles. Illinois, through its great metropolis, has
indeed become, as the Niles Register forecasted, "the
seat of an immense commerce and a market for the com-
modities of all regions," and in a fundamental way the
"stupendous idea" of Peter B. Porter, a second Joliet,
contributed largely to this result. But the canal itself
came very, very near accomplishing its supreme pur-
pose before it became an accomplished fact. In a sense
its builders builded better than they knew; in another,
their costly edifice proved largely an air castle. During
all the long years of construction it served to inspire
confidence in Chicago's future, but before it came into
place as an agency of transportation the shadows of
evening were gathering about the day of canals and
Chicago was entering upon its higher destiny of being
the great focal center of railway traffic.
MASONIC TEMPLE.
CHAPTER IX.
CHICAGO'S WATER SYSTEM.
)HICAGO'S water system has for its
supply the inexhaustible stores of
Lake Michigan. From it are pumped
annually 150,000,000,000 gallons of
water to supply the needs of the
city's 2,000,000 inhabitants. In the
use of water, Chicago believes there
can be no waste, and in no city in
the world is there such a prodigality
practiced, each person having more
than 200 gallons a day for use.
The problem of utilizing this magnifi-
cent water supply and keeping it unpol-
luted has been admirably solved by Chicago. Thirty
miles of tunnels take the supply from miles out in the
lake to the ten pumping stations in various parts of
the city. These stations have a capacity of 529,500,000
gallons a day. ,
Like all the other public improvements of the city,
Chicago's water system is typical of its unparalleled
growth. A century ago the daily water supply for Fort
Dearborn and the few settlers around the stockade was
taken in buckets from the river and lake. To-day every
home has within it an inexhaustible supply, furnished at
a cost lower than that of any large city in the world.
The millions that have been invested in its water-
works have brought a goodly return and to-day the city
makes millions from this source annually. With the
surplus from the water fund, it has built sewers and
other public improvements, though the warrant for this
diversion has been seriously questioned. Supplementary
to the water system is the drainage canal which has cost
the city already over $42,500,000. not including the
millions diverted from the water fund for the system of
intercepting sewers. The wonder of this growth is best
realized from a review of its history and development.
The first waterworks Chicago had, consisted of a
single well, dug in November, 1834. in Kinzie's addi-
tion, at an expense of $95. This proving inadequate,
the water cart appeared. This consisted of a hogshead
mounted on two wheels and drawn by a horse, which
was backed into the lake, filled with water by a bucket,
and then hauled around the village. The water sold
for ten and fifteen cents a barrel, and the number of
water carts constantly increased. They did not go
entirely out of use for twenty years.
In 1836 the Chicago Hydraulic Company was incor-
porated with a capital of $250,000 to supply the city
with water by pumping and piping. But, owing to the
panic of 1837, the work was not begun until 1840. The
pumping house, which was located at the foot of Lake
street, and the appliances were completed in the spring
of 1842. at a cost of $14,000. There was an intake con-
structed 700 feet out in the lake, and it was connected
by a six-inch wooden supply pipe with a well fifteen
feet deep in the pumping house.
It was not until 1841 that the company undertook
to supply water for the fire department, and in 1848
not over one-fifth of the city was reached by the supply
pipes. The water carts were still necessary, and poor
people used the river water. From 1846 there were
complaints that the hydrant water was impure and fre-
quently filled with small fish.
In February, 1851, the Chicago City Hydraulic
Company was incorporated to succeed the Chicago
Hydraulic Company. The construction of the water-
works, which was located at the foot of Chicago avenue,
was begun in 1852, and the buildings were completed
the next year. The engine house was on the beach,
and had a square brick tower 136 feet high, in which
were both the standpipe for the water and the smoke-
stack. The water was pumped into three reservoirs,
one on each side of the city. Water was first pumped in
December, 1853. In 1855, forty-one miles of pipe had
been laid, and the total cost of the works had amounted
to $496,849. The number of buildings supplied with
47
48
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
water was 7,053. The Board of Public Works was
established and took charge of the works. May 6, 1861.
Although in 1858 the pumping works supplied
3,000,000 gallons of water daily, and the amount was
increasing, it became evident that a much greater sup-
ply would be needed. There were also constant com-
plaints of the impurity of the water furnished. In 1862,
therefore, City Engineer C. E. Chesbrough began to
agitate for a water tunnel under the lake to a point
where good water could be secured. In September,
1863, the city government adopted his plan, and let the
was struck December 6, 1866, instead of November i,
1865, and the cost was $464,866, instead of $315,139.
The completion of the tunnel was celebrated as a
great event. The mayor and the city officials traveled
through the tunnel in mule carts to a point one and a
half miles from the shore, where the workmen met, and
where a memorial tablet was inserted in the wall, after
considerable speech-making, Mayor Rice pronouncing
the tunnel "the wonder of America and the world."
At the same time that the construction of the tunnel
was decided on steps were taken for the construction
CHICAGO AVENUE WATERWORKS.
contract for the construction to Doll & Gowan of Har-
risbtirg, Pennsylvania, who agreed to complete it by
November i, 1865, for $315,139, and broke ground
March 17, 1864.
The water tunnel was to be five feet in diameter, and
to run in a straight line at right angles to the shore, at
the pumping station, two miles out into the lake, and
to be sunk twenty-six feet below the level of the lake.
At each end there was to be a well nine feet in diameter,
the one out in the lake being an intake, and the one on
shore being a pumping well. The work was prosecuted
from both ends of the tunnel at once. The final blow
of the pumping station as it now exists at the foot of
Chicago avenue. The new building was erected piece-
meal on the same site as the old one in such a way as
not to interfere with the old water supply until the new
one was ready. The water was let into the tunnel
March 25. 1867, and on the same day was laid the cor-
nerstone of the water tower, 100 feet west of the pump
house. This tower is 130 feet high and contains a
standpipe three feet in diameter, encircled on the out-
side with a winding iron stair to the top. The water was
let into the pumping well and the pumps began to
work July 20. 1867. In this month a new engine had
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
49
been put in place at an expense of $112,350, with a
capacity of 18,000,000 gallons of water a day.
The great fire of 1871 nearly destroyed the pumping
station, and three of its engines were disabled. The
damage to the engine house was speedily repaired, the
machine shop was built on the same site, and the
engines put to work, one after another, within three
months. The loss on the pumping station, reservoirs
and piping by the great fire amounted to $248.910.
In the year 1871-72 the quantity of water delivered
was 8,423,890,966 gallons, or 497,206,126 gallons more
than in the preceding year. There were 91,129 feet of
pipe laid, at a cost of $316,165, making the total amount
of piping in the city 287 miles. There were 1 1 5 fire
hydrants erected, making a total of 1,667. The receipts
from water assessments and taxes were $445,834, and
the total income was $4,127,419. The total cost of
addition to the works was $432,719. The total expense
of the waterworks to date was $4,712,615. The cost of
delivering water per million gallons was $12.
In 1873, the pumping station proving inadequate, a
new engine, designed by City Engineer Cregier and con-
structed by Knapp Fort Pitt Foundry Works, was pro-
vided. Its cylinders were seventy inches in diameter,
and had a stroke of ten feet. The working beams were
twenty-eight feet long and weighed twenty tons each.
The fly-wheel was twenty-five feet in diameter and
weighed forty tons. Its three boilers were each twenty
feet long and twelve feet in diameter. The engine cost
$188,400, and during the first six and one-half months
pumped 6,448,000,000 gallons of water.
As the consumption of water continued to increase
rapidly, it became evident in 1871 that a new tunnel
was imperatively demanded. It was therefore deter-
mined to build a tunnel seven feet in diameter from the
crib to the pumping station, parallel to the first tunnel.
But the second tunnel, instead of stopping at the pump-
ing station, was continued on land to Ashland avenue
and Twenty-second street, where a new pumping station
was provided to pump the water into the mains of that
part of the city. The land tunnel is 3.92 miles in length.
The work on this land and water tunnel was begun
January 12, 1872. The lake section was completed
July 7, 1874, and the final connection with the land
section was made in February of the next year, when
the water was let in. The lake section cost $411,510
and the land section $545,000, a total of $965,510.
The demand for more water continued to exist, but
after 1875 there were constant complaints that the sup-
ply was impure. The city government therefore
decided to extend its tunnels further out in the lake
and draw its supply four miles from shore, where it was
expected the supply would always be pure. As a result
the four-mile crib was built off Peck court. The first
two miles counting from the crib is an eight-foot bore
but from there the tunnel was divided into two six-foot
bores. The land portion of the tunnel system has two
sections. One of these runs from a shaft at Park row
to the pumping station at Indiana avenue and Four-
teenth street. The other extends in a northerly direc-
tion from the Peck court shaft to the central pumping
station. The total length of the system is 5.75 miles
and cost $1,526,143. This great work was begun in
1887 and completed five years later.
Tunneling now became chronic with the city, and
in 1887-88, a seven-foot tunnel was constructed from
the North pumping station eastward to the breakwater
and an extension of the same diameter was made
between 1895 ar>d 1897 from the breakwater crib to a
shaft at the two-mile crib, at a cost of $259,832. In
1890 a crib was erected two miles off shore at the foot
of Montrose boulevard and a tunnel built to a pumping
station at a cost of $530.097. The work was completed
in 1896.
The greatest work of tunneling in connection with
the water system was undertaken in 1892 and finished in
1897. This starts at the great crib called after the elder
Carter H. Harrison, located two miles off shore at
Sixty-eighth street. The tunnel connection with this
crib is complicated. A seven-foot tunnel connects the
crib with the pumping station at Yates avenue, a five-
foot tunnel from the station extends to and connects
with a seven-foot tunnel about 5,000 feet from shore,
and a six-foot tunnel runs to a submerged intake about
4,500 feet from shore. The total cost of the tunnel
and crib construction was $727.471.
What is called the Northeast crib is located two
and a half miles off the foot of Oak street and is con-
nected with a shaft on shore by a ten-foot tunnel. A
land tunnel runs from Oak street and Grand avenue,
connecting with the shaft in Green street. The second
section runs from this point to a shaft and pumping sta-
tion at Central Park avenue and Fillmore street. This
is eight feet in diameter. A third section begins at
Green street and Grand avenue and extends to the
shaft in the pumping station at Springfield avenue and
Bloomingdale road, with a diameter of eight feet. In
this system the land and lake tunnels measure twelve
miles and cost $4,000,000.
These heroic efforts of the city to obtain a supply
of pure water were successful as to quantity, but disap-
pointing as to purity. It was discovered after years
of effort and failure that it was impossible to draw pure
water from the lake as long as the city sewage poured
into it. This failure led at last to the greatest engi-
neering feat of the last century, the turning of the
Chicago river from the lake by the construction of the
drainage canal and the obliteration of the watershed
between the waters of the Mississippi and Lake
Michigan.
50
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
The following table shows the growth of the water-
works system of Chicago in five-year periods since
1854, when the first large pumping station was
installed at Chicago avenue.
Gallons
Gallons
DATE.
Population.
Pumped
Per Day.
Per
Capita.
Mileage.
Income.
1814
6«;,772
591 083
8.9
30 o
1860
109,260
4,703,525
43-0
91.0
$ 131,162.00
1870
306,605
21,766,260
70.9
272.4
539,180.00
1880
491,516
57.384.376
116.7
455-4
865,618.35
1890
1,208,669
152,372,288
126.0
i 205.0
2,109,508.00
1900
1,698,575
322,599,630
160.6
1,872.0
3,250,481.85
1904
2,000,000
398,985,350
2°3-3
1,978.0
3,834,541.30
This immense quantity of water pumped had grown
to 137,515,701,965 gallons in 1903, and last year 146,-
280,598,353 gallons were used.
The capacity of the Chicago water system can best
be judged from a list of the pumping stations and their
capacity per day in gallons, together with the author-
ized increases:
STATION.
Present
Capacity.
Changes and Additions
Authored.
Total
Capacity.
Fourteenth Street
Sixty-eighth Street . . .
West
84,000,000
82,000,000
60,000,000
20,000,000 added.
2, 000,000 inc. in cap.
84,000,000
104,000,000
60,000,000
North
65,000,000
50,000,000 added.
Springfield Avenue.. . .
Central Park Avenue. .
Harrison Street
60,000,000
60,000,000
36,000,000
16,000,000 taken out.
40,000,000 added.
40,000,000 added.
99,000,000
100,000,000
100,000,000
36,000,000
Lake View
44 000,000
4,000,000 inc. in cap.
48,000,000
Washington Heights.. .
Norwood Park
2,900,000
3,000,000 added.
400,000 taken out.
5,500,000
New Roseland Station.
50,000,000
50,000,000
Totals
494,500,000
687,100,000
The annual income from the water system of Chi-
cago is now close to $4,000,000 a year, and its expendi-
tures for actual operation and keeping up the system
less than $500,000. For the past few years about
$1,500,000 has been appropriated annually for the water
department, but over a million of this has been used
on the land tunnels each year.
At the same time that the water department earns
so much money, it also furnishes water cheaper than
any other large city in the country whether tested by
water rates per 1,000 gallons, or the \vater tax for
an average eight-room residence, as shown in the fol-
lowing table.
CITIES.
Rate per 1,000
Gallons.
Water Tax for Eight
Room Residence.
Kansas City
$0 ^6
$26.50
Omaha
30
St Louis
.30
27.00
Milwaukee
20
24 SO
Boston
.18
22.OO
Chicago
There can be no standstill in the development of
the water system of the city. Provision must be made
for the future. Following is a summary of the most
important improvements now under way.
Time of
Completion.
Estimated
Cost.
North (Chicago Avenue) Pumping
Station
Springfield Avenue Pumping Station
Central Park Avenue Pumping
Station ....
1906
90,000
Sixty-eight Street Pumping Station.
Washington Heights Pumping Station
South Side (Roseland) System
Large Water Mains
1906
1906
1909
1906
40,000
2O.OOO
2.OOO.OOO
Total cost ...
Many additional improvements are authorized which
will cost in the neighborhood of a million dollars. These
include the extension of the Chicago avenue tunnels
to the Carter Harrison crib, the reconstruction of the
cross-town tunnels so they will begin entirely on city
property, and new boiler plants.
When all the improvements now authorized and
under way have been installed, the total pumping
capacity of the city's pumping plants will be 678,000,000
gallons per day. This will provide for a daily consump-
tion of 217 gallons for a population of about 2,370,000.
CHAPTER X.
THE DRAINAGE CANAL
JHICAGO'S struggle for a water supply
sufficient to meet its demands had
scarcely been won before an even
greater problem confronted the city
— the keeping of the inexhaustible
stores of Lake Michigan pure. The
constant stream of sewage poured
into the Chicago river and the lake
was extending the pollution further
and further from the shore. The in-
takes of the cribs which had been
forced as far as four miles out into the lake
were net beyond the danger zone. The tunnels might
be driven double the distance from the shore, but it was
only a question of time until the pollution would reach
these new limits.
There was but one logical solution and that was to
stop discharging the sewage into the city's water
supply. The Chicago river as the main drainage chan-
nel of the city must be made to flow away from the
lake, the entire sewerage system turned into it and the
river in turn made to flow toward the Gulf of Mexico.
To do this the portage traversed by La Salle, Joliet and
Father Marquette, and which gave to Chicago its exist-
ence, had to be done away with and the water shed
between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi pierced by
a new channel.
As a result of these plans the drainage canal was
built, the greatest work of its kind in the last century.
Up to date this great undertaking has cost the tax-
payers of Chicago upwards of $45,000,000. The waters
of Lake Michigan are flowing into the Chicago river
and what was formerly a black, murky, oily stream is
now a clear, swift flowing river.
The Sanitary District of Chicago was organized
under an act of legislature passed in 1889. The first
board was elected December 12, of the same year to
serve until December 2, 1895. Since that time the
regular term of service of the trustees has been five
years. The primary object of the work undertaken
by the sanitary district is the protection of the waters
of Lake Michigan from sewage pollution. It is the pur-
pose of the district to preserve this great natural reser-
voir in its purity.
The construction of the main drainage channel,
extending from Robey street at the Chicago river to
Lockport, a distance of 28.05 miles, was the first step
taken by the city in building its new drainage system.
With that channel complete it was necessary that the
Chicago river be deepened and widened in order to
secure an adequate flow of water through it without
injury to navigation. Nor was this all. While the
Chicago river carried off the bulk of the city's sewage,
to the north and south the main sewers of these dis-
tricts were discharging their polluting flow into the
lake. The city therefore decided to construct a system
of great intercepting sewers, which were to divert this
flow of sewage from the lake to the river and thence
into the drainage canal. These intercepting sewers
have been about completed and will practically stop all
pollution of the lake from sewage drainage coming from
the city proper.
This left the great suburbs to the north and south
still befouling the lake and in order to bring them
into the sanitary district, the legislature of 1903 enacted
a law for the annexation of these adjacent territories.
The original sanitary district contained 185 square
miles. By the act of July 14, 1903, the district was
enlarged by the annexation of the North Shore dis-
trict, comprising 78.6 square miles and the Calumet
district with 94.48 square miles. This brings the total
area of the districts up to 257.08 square miles. The
North Shore district includes the towns of Evanston,
Niles, New Trier, and portions of the townships of
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
WESTERN UNION BUILDING.
Northfield and Main and also Norwood Park. The
Calumet district takes in the township of Calumet and
portions of Worth, Bremen and Thornton. By the
reversal of the Calumet river, providing a gravity flow
therefrom into the main channel of the sanitary district
at Sag valley, that entire district will be drained to the
south.
The topography, hydrography of the North Shore
district precludes a gravity channel and therefore it is
proposed to cut a canal from the lake at some point
north of Evanston, southward to the north branch of
the Chicago river at Lawrence avenue. Water for the
flow through this channel will be
supplied by pumps with a capacity
of 60,000 cubic feet per second.
A pumping plant is to be erected
near the lake for this purpose.
Water was first turned into
the main channel on January 2,
1900. It took thirteen days to
fill the channel from Western ave-
nue to the controlling works at
Lockport. January 17, following,
the great bear trap dam was low-
ered and the flow of water from
Lake Michigan to the Mississippi
and the Gulf had begun.
The controlling works are
located at Lockport at the end of
what is known as Section 15 of
the channel. They comprise
seven sluice gates of metal, with
the necessary masonry bulkheads
and one bear trap dam. The
sluice gates have a vertical play
of twenty feet and openings of
thirty feet each. The bear trap
dam has an opening of 160 feet
and an oscillation of seventeen
feet vertically. This dam is essen-
tially two great metal leaves
hinged together and working
between masonry bulkheads. The
down-stream leaf is securely
hinged to a very heavy founda-
tion, and the up-stream leaf is so
placed as to present the barrier
to the water. This structure is
operated by admitting water
through properly constructed con-
duits, controlled by valves beneath
the leaves just described. To raise
the crest of the dam, water is
admitted from the up-stream side
and the discharge shut off until
the desired height is obtained, and then the valves are
adjusted so that the volume of water beneath the leaves
shall be constant. To lower the crest, the water beneath
the leaves is drawn off until the desired height is
reached, when the valves are agin arranged so as to
maintain a constant volume of water.
Beyond the controlling works the drainage board
has completed the work necessary for conducting the
flow from the channel in conjunction with the waters
of the Desplaines river, clown the declivity through the
city of Joliet. Changes have also been made in the Illi-
nois and Michigan canal to meet the new conditions.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
In constructing the channel the work was divided
into twenty-nine sections numbered from I to 1 5 south-
westerly from Willow Springs and lettered from A to
O, omitting the letter J, easterly from the same point.
This makes the sections a little less than a mile long.
Earth was first broken on "Shovel Day," September 3,
1892, on the rock cut just below Lemont.
The total amount of excavation involved in the con-
struction of the main channel is 26,693,000 cubic yards
of glacial drift and 12,265,000 cubic yards of solid rock,
a total of 38,958,000. In the work of river diversion
1,810,652 cubic yards of glacial drift and 258,659 of
solid rock were taken out, making 2,069,311 cubic
yards. The work between Lockport and Joliet, includ-
ing the controlling works, involved 1,201,724 cubic
yards of excavation, making an aggregate for the main
channel, river diversion and other work, of 42,229,035
cubic yards. In the retaining walls and bridge masonry
were put 457,777 cubic yards all laid in cement mortar.
The rock when broken up expands about 80 per cent
and there are now on the spoil banks along the channel,
looking like a diminutive mountain range, 22,542,586
cubic yards. The whole volume of this dumpage, both
rock and earth, would make in Lake Michigan in forty
feet of water, an island a mile square and above twelve
feet above the surface of the lake.
In addition to this tremendous volume of excava-
tion the main channel extension and waterpower devel-
opment involves 10,500 cubic yards of earth, 1,274,000
of rock and 145,000 of masonry and concrete.
The distance from the mouth of the Chicago river
to the juncture of the west fork of the south branch
and the drainage canal at Robey street is six miles.
From Lake street to Robey street the river is to be
widened to 200 feet and given a depth of twenty-six
feet for 100 feet in the middle of the stream and shal-
lowing to sixteen feet at the docks. It is to> be docked
with both timber and concrete along this entire river
frontage. The drainage board has purchased about
500,000 square feet of land in order to widen the chan-
nel and over 3,000,000 cubic yards of dredging has been
done and about 12,000 feet of docks built. As soon
as the tunnels are lowered the channel of the river will
be lowered to twenty-six feet the entire distance.
Thirteen bridges have been built across the canal
proper, six for public highways and seven for railroads.
The weight of the iron and steel in these structures is
22,862,454. Two bridges have been built at Joliet
across the Desplaines and fourteen will be built over
the river in Chicago.
The general dimensions of the entire channel are as
follows:
Miles.
Distance from mouth of river to juncture with canal at Robey
street • • 6
Main channel proper, Robey street to Lockport 28.05
Total length of channel • • 34-°5
The dimensions of the canal proper, are : Robey
street to Summit, 7.8 miles; no feet wide at bottom;
198 feet at water line with minimum depth of water, 22
feet. Summit to Willow Springs, 5.3 miles; 202 feet
wide at bottom, 290 feet wide at water line with 22 feet
depth of water; grade of earth channel i foot in
40,000 feet, or if inches per mile. The side slopes
in earth are one foot vertical to two feet horizontal.
At Willow Springs the channel narrows to the walled
and rock cross section, extending 14.95 miles to Lock-
port, 1 60 feet wide at bottom, 162 feet at top; grade in
rock i foot in 20,000, or 3! inches per mile.
The velocity in earth is figured for i.| miles per
hour and in rock 1.9 miles per hour.
The total cost of the drainage canal and the supple-
mentary improvements in the river, but not including
the intercepting sewer systems is shown in the fol-
lowing :
Right of Way ......$ 5,224,784.85
Diversion Desplaines River • • 1,142,578.32
Main Channel — Robey Street to Lockport 20,488,378.92
Controlling Works 339,127.00
Desplaines River Improvement — Lockport to Joliet.... 1,580,414.62
Chicago River Improvement 4,103,078.89
Illinois and Michigan Canal Improvement. 77,016.08
Water Power Developing 468,380.51
Thirty-ninth Street Pumps 151,024.42
Capitalization and Maintenance of Bridges 566,833.86
Interest on Bonds and Tax Warrants 6,602,704.05
Taxes - - 27,937.53
Engineering Department 1,989,014.57
Clerical Department • • 161,196.27
Law Department • • 868,512.15
Treasury Department 37,377-84
Police Department • • 378,603.04
General Account 814,307.77
City of Chicago 13,434-95
Land Damages 76,331.84
Marine Damages 9,647.32
Personal Injuries Account 4,082.50
Bridgeport Pumping Works 90,388.80
Special Commission Chicago Drainage Canal 33,075-97
Telephone Line 11,863.70
Weir, McKechney & Co. 22,118.14
Strceter & Kenefick 5,020 02
E. D. Smith & Co. 2,400.00
Total Disbursements $45,289,633.93
Emergency Funds in hands of Department
Officials $ 24,800.00
Balance in hands of Treasurer, December
31, 1904 1,324,693-15 1,349,493.15
$46,639,127.08
The Sanitary district had collected in taxes up to
December 31, 1904, $29,861,623.72. The district has
issued $24,790,000 of bonds, all payable in currency;
$8,000,000 being 5 per cent bonds, $5,600,000 being
4^ per cent bonds, $390,000 being 3^ per cent bonds
and $10,800,000 being 4 per cent bonds, running from
one to twenty years, except the 3^ per cent bonds,
which runs for twenty years from date. One-twentieth
of the issue must be paid off and retired each year. Of
the total amount of bonds issued the sum of $8,380,000
have been retired, leaving $16,410,000 outstanding
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
December 31, 1904. The taxes afford a revenue suffi-
cient to pay the interest on these bonds, to pay off and
retire one-twentieth of the issue eacli year and leave a
surplus to apply upon the current obligations of the
district incurred for construction and other purposes.
Besides the primary object of affording a solution
to the sanitary problem of Chicago, the canal is
expected to develop two things of scarcely less impor-
tance than the primary object itself. One is a commer-
cial waterway, that will be of inestimable value, not
only to Chicago, but to all people all along its line,
from the Lakes to the Gulf. The second is a great water-
power which, distributed by means of electricity, may
yet line the banks of the canal with factories of great
importance. The board is now developing this water-
power which it has conserved, the legislature in 1903
granting it the needed authority. The board has also
very wisely taken title to much of the land along the
banks of the canal, so that it will not have simply the
power to supply, but also the sites themselves. In this
great work Chicago has asked no assistance, either from
the nation or the state, but the further development of
the waterway project to the Gulf will undoubtedly have
to be done by the general government. It is estimated,
however, that this waterway completed to the Missis-
sippi River will not involve as great a cost as the canal
has already cost Chicago.
The first election of trustees in 1889 resulted in the
selection of John J. Altpeter, Arnold Gilmore. Richard
Prendergast, W. H. Russell, Frank Wenter, Christo-
pher Hotz, John A. -King, Murray Nelson and H. J.
Willing. The board proved to be anything but har-
monious. To many of the gentlemen on the board the
important and practical questions were entirely new, and
they found it impossible for a majority of them to agree.
The result was that Murray Nelson resigned June 19,
1891 : John A. King, July 22. 1891, and Henry J. Will-
ing, September 23. 1891. On November 3, 1891, Will-
iam Boldenweck, Lyman E. Cooley and Bernard A.
Eckhart were elected to fill .the three vacancies. On
January 16, 1892, Christopher Hotz resigned, and at
the next election, November 8, 1892, Thomas Kelly was
elected his successor. By special provisions of the law,
the first term of the trustees was six years. After that
a new7 board was to be elected every five years. Novem-
ber 5, 1895, William Boldenweck, Joseph C. Braden,
Zina R. Carter. Bernard A. Eckhart, Alexander J.
Jones, Thomas Kelly. James P. Mallette, Thomas A.
Smyth and Frank Wenter were elected trustees. It was
under the superintendence and direction of these nine
gentlemen that most of this great work has been done.
•••
MINIATURE FORT DEARBORN, GARFIELD PARK.
CHAPTER XI.
CHICAGO'S PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
kN its public schools and great institutions
of learning, Chicago has reached its
ripest fruitage. Three hundred thou-
sand children and students bear daily
witness to the city's devotion to the
highest ideal of free education. No
civic institution is guarded with such
jealous care. The schools of Chi-
cago are run by the people, for the
people and to teach what the people
I want.
The ordinance of 1787 ordained that
in the newly created territory of Illinois, "religion, mor-
ality and knowledge being necessary to good govern-
ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the
means of education shall forever be encouraged."
Nowhere in the vast domain of the Northwest has
this idea been more sacredly guarded, so that to-day
after a century of growth and development, Chicago
with its public school system, its universities and its
professional schools is to-day one of the foremost educa-
tional centers in the world.
Chicago spends in round numbers $13,000,000 a
year on its public schools, and the amount is constantly
growing. It has 341 school buildings, valued at $31,-
135,900. and many of them are of the most modern
type of school architecture. These are attended
annually by over 282,000 pupils and taught by 5,614
teachers and principals. The total cost for instruction
per pupil for last year, based on the average daily
attendance, was about $28.75.
Vast as are the sums spent annually for educational
purposes, the school system is inadequate to keep pace
with the natural increase in population. The buildings
owned by the city contain 4,905 classrooms, in addition
to assembly halls, offices, recreation rooms and gymna-
siums. Besides these 138 classrooms are rented, giving
the schools a seating capacity of 252,324. This forces
many children to be deprived of a full day, and only
half-day sessions are provided in the most congested
districts. About $2,500,000 is invested annually by the
city in new sites and buildings. So rapid is the increase
in population, however, that the natural birth rate of
the city greatly exceeds this added capacity. Only by
doubling the expenditures and building twice as many
new schoolhouses each year can Chicago hope to give
every child in the city equal advantages of a common-
school education. There are now (1905) under con-
struction nineteen new school buildings, containing 414
classrooms, and costing $2,735,000. Sites have been
selected for forty-two additional buildings, which will
add 658 classrooms, and cost $5,300,000. While their
erection has been authorized they will not be completed
for the next two years.
The latest type of building is absolutely fireproof.
The school board is building none other at the present
time. A complete building includes twenty-six class-
rooms, assembly hall on the first floor, and gymnasium
above. It includes the usual play rooms, toilet rooms
and heating rooms in the basement, and space which
may be used in the future for domestic science and man-
ual training. There are also included the usual princi-
pals' offices, teachers' rooms, libraries, etc., in each
building.
Wherever possible the sites for new buildings are
large enough to include playgrounds which are
regarded as essential whenever possible to acquire.
The board is building several 12-room school buildings
which, in each case, are the first portions of future 24 or
26-room buildings. They are so designed that additions
may be put on and conform to the original portion. A
12-room building may be increased to 16 rooms or 20
rooms, or 26 rooms without in any way differing from
the ultimate plan for a complete building.
55
56
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Of the 341 schools there are three normal schools
and sixteen high schools. They have the highest class
of equipment and teaching force. The Wendell Phillips
High school represents the best type of modern school-
house.
With these material evidences of development in the
Chicago school system are allied high civic ideals in the
administration of the schools, the modification of the
course of study to conform to the existing conditions
and needs of the pupils, and the earnest co-operation of
the teaching force in working out their ideals.
The educational spirit of Chicago took root early.
In 1810 John H. Kinzie was the only scholar and he
Fort Dearborn she came with him and opened a school
for children in the fort and the little settlement about
the fort. Chicago was not then even a village. In 1834
the town made an appropriation for Miss Chappel's
school, making it the first public school of Chicago.
The following year, 1835, the Rev. Jeremiah Porter,
who had organized the first church in Chicago, was mar-
ried to Miss Eliza Chappel, who had taught the first
public school. And it may be added with the utmost
emphasis that they "lived happily ever after" for some
sixty years. Miss Chappel was succeeded as teacher
by Miss Ruth Leavenworth, when Mr. John S. Wright,
built at his own expense the first schoolhouse. As Mr.
BAND STAND, GARFIELD PARK.
was taught by Robert A. Forsyth, who subsequently
became paymaster in the United States army. The
pupil was six years old, his teacher but thirteen. It was
not until 1816 that William L. Cox, a discharged soldier,
opened the first school in a log hut on the Kinzie lot,
near Pine and Michigan streets. Here John Kinzie.
his two sisters and brother and three or four children
from Fort Dearborn attended school. There were sev-
eral other private schools conducted in the settlement
during the next eighteen years, but it was not until 1833
that the first "public school" was started in Chicago.
Miss Eliza Chappel was the first teacher. She had
first come west from Rochester, New York, as a teacher
at Mackinac. When Mayor Wilcox came from there to
Wright, thirty years later, said: "The honor is due to
my sainted mother. Having then plenty of money it
was spent very much as she desired. Interested in an
infant school, she wanted the building and it was built."
The next teacher was Miss Frances L. Ward, who
afterward married the Rev. John Ingersoll, father of
Col. R. G. Ingersoll.
The original school section as provided for by the
ordinance of 1787, and located by Illinois legislation,
was placed in the heart of the present business section of
Chicago, within what are now Madison, State, Twelfth
and Halsted streets. Had some genius foreseen the
greatness of Chicago's future and saved this inheritance
for the public schools its unparalleled richness would
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
57
have provided a fund that would have made Chicago's
schools the richest in the world. As it was this tract
was sold at auction in 1833, with the exception of four
city blocks, and the sum of $38,619.47 realized. What
the value of those 142 city blocks now are it would be
hard to estimate. Few areas of land in any of the
cities of the world would command a higher price
to-day.
In 1835 the state legislature passed an act to estab-
lish a "special school system for township 39, range 14,
east of the third principal meridian." As Chicago was
not incorporated until the following year that was as
near as the lawmakers could designate it. The next
legislature having incorporated the city, made haste to
provide for it a more thoroughly organized common
school system, with trustees having full power to assess
and collect taxes and with inspectors with more or less
power to manage school affairs. One of the provisions
of the city charter, approved March 4, 1837, reads as
follows :
"Section 85. The common council shall annually
appoint a number of inspectors of common schools in
said city, not exceeding twelve and not less than five,
which inspectors, or some of them, shall visit all the
public schools in said city at least once a month, inquire
into the progress of the scholars and the government
of the schools, examine all persons offering themselves
as candidates for teachers, and, when found well quali-
fied, give them certificates gratuitously, and remove
them for any good cause; and it shall be the duty of
said inspectors to report to the common council from
time to time any suggestions and improvements that
they may deem necessary or proper for the prosperity
of the school."
While the inspectors were to be appointed by the
common council, the trustees who had the power to
assess and collect the taxes were to be elected by the
legal voters in each school district.
In 1839 the city charter was so amended by the
legislature as to turn over to the common council the
entire responsibility for school matters. Not only the
seven persons to be inspectors, but the three persons
in each district to be trustees, were to be appointed by
the common council. In 1840 the city was divided
into four districts. The four teachers that year were
each given a salary of $400. Only one school building
was then owned by the city. That was in District No. i,
at the southeast corner of Madison and Dearborn
streets. There were reported that year 317 pupils in all,
of whom 64 were studying geography, 29 grammar,
and 57 arithmetic. The number of white persons in the
city under twenty years of age was then 2,109.
The first high school was established in 1856. The
normal department in connection with it was made, in
1871, an independent school. The development of the
high school since then has been rapid. Sixteen mag-
nificent buildings are now attended by almost as many
thousand students. The course of study has been grad-
ually advanced and to-day a diploma from the Chicago
high schools will admit into most of the colleges and
universities of the country.
The central idea of the Chicago school system "to
prepare the pupil for life's experiences" is exemplified
in the manual training courses for the boys and the
cooking classes for the girls. These are begun in the
seventh and eighth grades, and continued in the high
schools. In Chicago's complex population, represent-
ing nearly every foreign country on the globe, the value
of this training gives the child a new point of view,
makes the boy or girl strive for higher things and
reflects itself in the home life on the parents of the
children themselves.
There are no less than 14,000 boys and as many
girls taking advantage of these opportunities. At the
Manual Training High school there is an enrollment of
1,000 young men who, while having the benefit of a
high-school course in literature, science and history,
equal to any school of the kind in the country, are lay-
ing the foundation for a technical training by working
in metal and wood.
There is now being planned a great commercial high
school in the center of the city that will offer the same
advantages for a business training as the manual train-
ing school offers in mechanical lines. This school will
give to the graduates of the elementary schools an
opportunity to prepare themselves for business life,
without the expense of attending a commercial college.
But Chicago in its great public school system goes
still further, and offers to those who didn't have an
opportunity to go to school when children, or who came
from foreign countries and want to learn the language, a
chance to learn after working hours, in the evening
schools. In- these classes can be seen fathers and
mothers studying with their children. The courses
offered are not confined to the rudimentary studies. The'
girls and women are taught cooking and sewing, and the
men and boys are given instruction in mechanical draw-
ing. Business courses in bookkeeping, typewriting and
shorthand are also offered. The evening schools are
conducted as a help to the men and women who need
help and to give them what they want. The attend-
ance has been rapidly increasing, showing that they
are appreciated and doing the work of training, espe-
cially the foreigners, in the fundamentals of good gov-
ernment and citizenship.
Chicago's kindergarten system has been brought
to a high degree of efficiency. About half the schools
have kindergarten classes. These are attended by 10,000
children, mostly in the poorer sections, where the per-
centage of foreigners is great. Many of the little folks
58
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER CO.'S OFFICES.
get their first knowledge of the English language in
the kindergarten.
In addition to the great public schools there are
many religious elementary schools, the Catholic church
maintaining no less than 166 in connection with their
parish churches. These have an annual attendance
of upwards of 70,000 pupils, which with the other
denominational and private schools swell Chicago's
grand army of school children to over 400,000.
CHICAGO'S UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.
Chicago has taken her place among the great uni-
versity towns of the world only during the last decade.
This advance movement in higher education may be
dated from the time of the Columbian Exposition.
Since then Chicago has made giant strides as a center
of higher education, and has now nearly 15.000 stu-
dents engaged in college, university and professional
studies, as many as have the six New England states
combined. If all these institutions
were grouped together under one
head, as are the higher educational
schools of Paris, Chicago would
have the greatest university in the
world.
There is no unity of control of
these higher educational institu-
tions. They are chiefly of three
classes : The state schools, repre-
sented by the professional depart-
ments of the University of Illinois ;
the denominational schools, which
are under the control of the
church, though not necessarily
sectarian in their teachings, and
the private institutions. The first
and second groups give the stu-
dent vastly more than he is asked'
to pay for. The third group
includes both endowed schools
and institutions that are forced to
be entirely self-supporting.
The University of Chicago
stands pre-eminently at the head
of the higher educational system
of Chicago and of the West.
When the Columbian Exposition
opened it had been in existence
but a few months. In order to
make a good showing to the
world, large preliminary subscrip-
tions were received, but its tre-
mendous growth under the mast-
erly direction of Dr. William
R. Harper has brought more millions to its support
than was ever dreamed of. even by that master mind of
organization. In 1893 it had four blocks of land on the
Midway and a fair start on the magnificent quadrangle
of buildings. To-day it owns practically all the land on
both sides of the Midway plaisance. extending from
Washington Park to Madison avenue, a distance of
three-quarters of a mile. It had 700 students in 1893;
tr-day it has nearly 5,000. The buildings, the equipment
and the teaching force have grown in proportion.
Magnificently supported by the rich men of Chicago
it has back of it the good will and millions of John D.
Rockefeller. Between him and President Harper there
is the closest bond of friendship and trust. The recent
serious illness of Dr. Harper awakened the sympathy of
the entire country.
It has been a fixed policy with President Harper to
affiliate with the university strong professional schools.
When he has thought best he has founded these schools.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
59
but more often has lie taken them in as already estab-
lished. The University of Chicago law school was
founded only two years ago. It has a fine building of
its own and contains a library of 40,000 volumes. Like
the other professional schools of the university it is pre-
eminently a graduate school.
The medical school of the university was formerly
Rush Medical College. Since it was incorporated into
the university its requirements for the enrollment of
students has been raised and its equipment and teach-
ing force enlarged. Its enrollment is about 300.
The College of Education of the University of Chi-
cago was founded by Mrs. Emmons Elaine. It serves
the double purpose of a training school for teachers and
an experimental station for the professors and students
of psychology at the University. The University Col-
lege was also endowed by Mrs. Elaine. It is a down-
town branch of the University where classes are given
in the afternoon and evening and on Saturdays for the
benefit of teachers and other students who cannot
attend the regular lectures at the university.
The University High School resulted from a consoli-
dation of the Chicago Manual Training School and
the South Side Academy. Not counting the students of
this department and in other preparatory schools con-
trolled by or a part of the University, the total registra-
tion last year was 4,580.
The University of Illinois has located all its pro-
fessional schools in Chicago because of the better facili-
ties and the larger field. Here are the schools of phar-
macy, school of medicine, dental school and law school.
Northwestern University in Evanston is practically
one of Chicago's institutions of higher education. It
is only a matter of a few years until that delightful
suburb adjoining the city to the north will be knocking
for admittance. Already Northwestern University has
its four professional schools in the downtown district.
The schools of law, pharmacy and dental surgery occupy
the Northwestern University building at Lake and Dear-
born streets, which was formerly the Tremont House.
The school of medicine has a fine building of its own on
the South Side. The total registration, not including
preparatory students, exceeds 2.700.
Armour Institute of Technology was founded in
1892 by Mr. Philip D. Armour of Chicago. The work of
instruction was begun in September, 1893, and is now
carried on in the buildings at the corners of Thirty-third
street and Armour avenue. The artistic and technical
branches of the course in architecture are conducted at
the Art institute, Michigan avenue and Adams street.
The technical laboratory work of the course in fire pro-
tection engineering is given at the Underwriters' labora-
tory, 382 East Ohio street, Chicago. Honorable places
are accorded athletics, all indoor work being done in
the gymnasium in the main building, and all outdoor
work on Ogden field, which was recently presented to
the institute by Mr. J. Ogden Armour.
The institute consists of:
1. The College of Engineering.
2. Armour Scientific Academy.
3. The Evening Classes.
4. The Summer School.
5. The Department of Commercial Tests.
e oege o ngneerng oers courses n
mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil
engineering, chemical engineering, fire protection engi-
neering, general science and architecture, all leading
to the degree of bachelor of science.
Armour Scientific Academy prepares young men for
admission to the engineering courses of the College of
Engineering, or to the leading colleges and univer-
sities.
ARMOUR INSTITUTE.
60
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
The evening classes provide courses in engineering
and kindred subjects adapted to the needs of those who
are employed in technical pursuits during the day.
The summer school offers courses designed to meet
the wants of teachers and special students who desire
to extend their knowledge of scientific and technical
subjects, of undergraduates who desire to shorten their
regular courses, of new students who are deficient in
certain studies required for entrance, and of those who
are unable to attend during the school year.
The department of commercial tests offers facilities
for all sorts of special tests and investigations.
The president, the Rev. Dr. F. W. Gunsaulus, has
under his jurisdiction a staff of sixty instructors. The
total number of students enrolled during I9O4-'O5
was 1,585.
The Lewis Institute in West Madison street was
founded by Allen C. Lewis. He left a fund for its
endowment which should be invested until it amounted
to $800,000 and then turned over to the founding of a
school. The plant and investments of the institute now
aggregate a million and a half dollars. It offers tech-
nical and manual training courses as well as literary and
high school courses. Like the Armour Institute, it is
open to students at night.
St. Ignatius College is the largest of the Catholic
schools of higher education in Chicago. It has a strong
faculty and offers academic and university courses :
Mayor Harrison is a graduate of St. Ignatius. It is in
a prosperous condition and growing in strength and
influence.
There are six large theological schools in Chicago,
besides several smaller ones and several just outside the
city limits. There are thirteen large medical schools, a
dozen schools of pharmacy, otology, ophthalmology,
odontology, and two large law schools, besides those
named.
Chicago has also seven dramatic schools and many
colleges of music, besides those connected with the
larger universities, and the Art Institute contains the
largest art class in the country.
DOUGLAS PARK.
CHAPTER XII.
CHICAGO'S LIBRARIES
)HICAGO'S great libraries contain
approximately 1,700,000 volumes.
The public library has the greatest
patronage of any similar institution
in the world. Last year the aggre-
gate circulation was 1,721,186 vol-
umes, which went to the homes of
Chicago's reading public. Of this
number, 662,896 volumes were taken
out from the thirty-eight delivery
stations scattered throughout the
city and the T. B. Blackstone Memorial
branch library at Forty-ninth street and Lake avenue.
As a factor in the educational life of Chicago this
great system is only second to the public schools. Read-
ing rooms are maintained in the three great sub-divi-
sions of the city in connection with the public library,
and the other institutions supplement this service. The
professional schools and universities maintain libraries
of unexcelled excellence. That of the University of
Chicago alone containing over 400,000 volumes and
165,000 pamphlets. All this in a municipality that had
no existence before the law seventy-five years ago and
was but a frontier fort at the beginning of the last
century.
Like all of Chicago's institutions, its libraries had a
humble beginning. John S. Wright carried the first
library tied up in his handkerchief. It was the library
in connection with the first Sunday-school, in 1832, and
Mr. Wright has the honor of being Chicago's first
librarian. His mother, it was, who at her own expense
built the first building devoted to the uses of a school.
The first donation for a public library in the city
was made by a couple of real estate speculators from
New York. They sent a package of 200 books which
had cost perhaps $50 for a public library. In 1835 the
intellectual life of the town centered around the Chi-
cago Lyceum. It was a debating society that furnished
an opportunity for the social and literary advancement
of the community. Among its membership was every
man of any note in any trade or profession in the city.
It had a library of 300 volumes, which at that early day
was greatly appreciated.
The next movement that fostered the library idea
was the founding of the Mechanics' Institute in 1837.
It was incorporated six years later and had for one of
its aims the "creation of a library and museum for the
benefit of mechanics and others." By 1843 it had
gathered a library of over 1,000 volumes. The fire of
1871 swept a\vay its books and other property.
The Young Men's Association which was organized
in January, 1841, had as one of its objects the establish-
ing of a library. Walter I. Newberry, who in after life
provided for one of the finest libraries now in Chicago,
was chosen as the first president. A reading room was
at once opened and Mr. Newberry furnished a nucleus
for a library. When the association was incorporated
in 1851 it had a library of 2,500 volumes. This had
grown to 9,000 volumes by 1866. Two years later, in
1868, the Young Men's Association was reorganized
and its name changed to the Chicago Library Associa-
tion. This was the beginning of the free library move-
ment, though its property and books were wiped out by
the fire of 1871.
In April, 1856, the Chicago Historical Society was
formed. The Rev. William Barry was the genius of
the movement. He was its secretary and devoted him-
self to its interest with contagious enthusiasm. He
secured the collection of over 3,000 volumes the first
year. The society was incorporated in 1857. Within
two years it had over 18,000 volumes. The fire of 1871
consumed 60,000 volumes, 1,738 files of newspapers
and a vast number and variety of documents, many of
which could never be replaced. Another fire in 1874
61
G2
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
proved similarly disastrous. The present building is
deemed absolutely fireproof. It cost $150,000 and was
opened May, 1894. It has now a collection of over
40,000 volumes and 75,000 unbound volumes and pam-
phlets, besides numberless documents, maps and other
insignia of value. The Union Catholic Library was
organized in 1868.
It is a fact of more than local, indeed of international,
interest that the initiative in the establishment of the
Chicago Free Public Library was taken by an English-
man, Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown at
Rugby, etc., of London.
The great fire of 1871 had well night swept Chicago
warded to Chicago. This collection formed the begin-
ning of what \vas presently to be the Chicago Free
Public Library.
Mr. Hughes appealed to the people of England to
give to Chicago "a new library as a work of sympathy
now and a token of that sentiment of kinship which,
independently of circumstances and irrespective of every
other consideration, must ever exist between the differ-
ent branches of the English race." As Mr. Azel F.
Hatch, the president of the board of directors of the
library, said of this movement at the dedication of the
new building : "It crystallized the sentiment that a
public library was a necessity, and prompted our citi-
THE CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY.
out of existence. Never before in the history of the
world had such a passion of sympathy swept over the
country and manifested itself in such unprecedented
ways in all civilized countries. At a meeting of the
Association of English Authors, of which Thomas
Hughes was chairman, the immediate needs of the
afflicted city were discussed. It was not thought that
anybody then could want for bread ; it was felt that
they would suffer for a time at least for want of books.
An appeal, headed by Queen Victoria, signed by
Thomas Hughes, Thomas Carlyle, Gladstone. Disraeli,
Spencer, Tyndall, Tennyson and others, addressed to
authors, publishers and booksellers, was sent forth. The
result was that 7,000 volumes were collected and for-
zens to express their appreciation of the generous and
sympathetic donation by founding this library and pro-
viding a place to receive and forever keep sacred this
testimonial of universal brotherhood."
At a public meeting in Plymouth Church, Mayor
Medill presiding, January 8, 1872, measures were taken
to secure from the State Legislature, then in session, an
act enabling the city to provide by taxation for a free
library. It was what was known as the splendid action
of Thomas Hughes and others in England which was
the immediate occasion of this action on the part of
the city.
The library was opened January i, 1873. Mr. Will-
iam F. Poole, author, but not finisher, of that invaluable
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
63
and never-ending work, "Poole's Index," was the first
librarian, a man of extraordinary ability and experience,
fitting him for the great task of creating and organizing
the library. He continued in this position until 1887,
when he became librarian of the new Newberry Library.
He was succeeded by Mr. Frederick H. Hild, who
remains in place to date.
The new library building was open to the public
October u, 1897. The total cost of the building, with
its fixtures, machinery, etc., was $2,125,000. It had
monuments to the commercial spirit and liberality of
its citizens. The Newberry Library and the John Crerar
Library are sustained by the funds provided by the
founders after whom they are named.
By the provisions of the will of Walter L. Newberry,
who died November 6, 1868, one-half of his estate was
given for founding a free public library to be located
on the North Side. It was not until 1885 that the estate
was divided when property valued at $2,149,403 was
set aside for the library enterprise. The value of this
THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY.
been formally dedicated two days before, the anniversary
of the fire.
The total number of volumes at the close of the
library year 1904, was 290,277 volumes. The circula-
tion for the year was 1,721,186 volumes, which does not
include the use of the books kept open on the reference
shelves nor the periodicals and newspapers in the read-
ing rooms. The greatest freedom is allowed under the
rules of the public library. Membership in the library
can be secured by anyone presenting a certificate from
a property owner, guaranteeing the library against loss.
The two other great public libraries of Chicago are
endowment has steadily increased and is worth at least
a million more than when first turned over. In 1889
the ''Ogden block," where the magnificent building
now stands, was purchased. The building was com-
pleted in 1894 and in its commodious halls is one of the
finest collection of reference books in the world. In
the departments of music, medicine, art and antiquity
it is especially strong. It is entirely a reference library
and no books are circulated. It contains about 300.000
books and pamphlets. John Vance Cheney is librarian.
The John Crerar Library is the third of Chicago's
great public institutions of the kind. It is planned to
64
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
erect a magnificent home for it in Grant Park on the
Lake Front, when its collection of over 150,000 volumes
on the social, physical and natural sciences will be
transferred from their temporary quarters in the Field
building. A portion of the income from the endowment
has been set aside each year for a building fund and
as soon as a site is provided the work of erecting the
building will be begun. Its character as a scientific
library has been strictly adhered to. John Crerar in his
will expressed a desire "that the books and periodicals
be selected with a view to create and sustain a healthy
moral and Christian sentiment." Clement W. Andrews
is in charge, as librarian.
In point of number of volumes the University of
Chicago Library is the largest in the city. Like the
university it is built on stupendous lines and contains
over 400,000 books and 165,000 pamphlets. Its use is
not restricted to the students of the University and
others may have all the privileges on the payment of a
small fee. Complimentary cards for four weeks are also
issued to properly credited scholars visiting Chicago.
Zella Allen Dixson is librarian.
The other libraries in Chicago and its immediate
vicinity with the number of volumes they contain follow :
Field Columbian Museum, 32,000; Lewis Institute,
12,000; Northwestern University, 91,000; Evanston,
34,600; Garrett Biblical Institute, 20,200; Ryerson,
3,500; Academy of Science, 19,800; St. Ignatius Col-
lege, 20,000; Western Society of Engineers, 5,000; Chi-
cago Law Institute, 40,000; Hammond, 23,000; Pull-
man, 9,000.
All these libraries are in a flourishing condition and
steadily growing. There are also besides these a large
and fast-increasing number of private libraries of great
costliness and special value.
HUMBOLDT PARK OFFICE BUILDING.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHICAGO AS AN ART CENTER.
HICAGO'S spirit of commercialism has
been the foundation for her artistic
development. It has made condi-
tions possible for the success of her
inspiring youth in the finer accom-
plishments of life. With the tre-
mendous wealth it has produced
came the means for gratifying the
love of the beautiful and the encour-
agement of the artistic spirit of the
community. This spirit has found
expressions in an unrivaled park system in
many superior private collections of works of art and
most forcibly in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Housed in a beautiful structure on the Lake Front,
the Art Institute is naturally and logically the focus and
stimulus of the art efforts of Chicago and of a great
part of the western and middle states. It has enrolled
over 2,500 students that come from all sections of the
United States, Mexico and Canada. The Academy of
Fine Arts and a dozen lesser schools and studios and
private classes will bring this number to over 5,000, a
serious band of young American men and women who
are devoting their efforts to the pictorial and plastic
arts.
A liberal share of the profits of Chicago's great com-
mercial enterprise has been devoted -to art. The gal-
leries of the institute bear witness to this generosity.
They have been enriched by donations from private cit-
izens as few other art museums in this country have
been. Here the richest and most judicious collectors
have brought their treasure for the benefit of the public.
This is characteristic of Chicago. While in other cities
many priceless treasures of art are kept aloof from the
many and for the enjoyment of the few fortunate to
possess enough wealth to own them, in Chicago there
5 65
has been that public spirit which has donated them to
a public institution for the benefit of all.
The Art Institute galleries are open free to the pub-
lic 1 60 days of the year, and nowhere has the public
shown such appreciation of the privilege. Nearly a
million visitors come to the Art Institute in a year
to inspect the pictures, sculptures and curios with
which its galleries have been enriched by the liberality
of the donations from private citizens. While not the
richest, it has one of the most comprehensive exhibi-
tions of art works in the world. Upon its walls and
within its aisles may be found examples of nearly every
famous master and celebrated school in the history of
picture and plastic art. Its teachers and lectures are
representatives of the best there is in the art schools
of America, and its classes are drawn from the farms,
villages and cities which stand for all that is most virile,
most ambitious and youngest in the art movement of
the United States.
The Art Institute was established a quarter of a
century ago. Its purpose as defined in its articles of
incorporation was for "the founding and maintenance
of schools of art and design, the formation and exhibi-
tion of collections of objects of art and the cultivation
and extension of the arts of design by appropriate
means." How well it has carried out this purpose
is manifest in the incomparable success it has attained.
George Armour was the first president and after
he had completed a year of service he was succeeded
by Levi Z. Leiter, who held the position for two years.
He was followed by Charles L. Hutchinson, who has
been continued year after year. Under the stimulus
of his enthusiasm the real work of the institute began
and attained its final success. Mr. Hutchinson and
Samuel M. Nickerson are the only persons remaining
who have been trustees during the whole history of the
66
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
institution. William M. R. French, the present director,
has been in charge of the institute since its founding
and the financial affairs have been directed during that
time by Newton H. Carpenter.
Under the able direction of Mr. French the museum
and school has taken a front rank and he has brought
to its support many public-spirited citizens. For three
years it had rooms at State and Adams streets. Mr.
French at once started a school of art in connection
with the institute and encouraged the holding of exhibi-
tions. In 1882 a site was purchased at the corner of
to assist in the erection of a building for the holding
of the World's Congresses of Religions. The fair direc-
tors had appropriated $200,000 for this purpose and
the Art Institute officers agreed to add whatever
amounts were necessary to this to put up a permanent
structure, which, after serving the purposes of the
World's Congresses should be permanently occupied
by the Art Institute. Permission was obtained from
the city and the abutting property owners for the
use of the Lake Front property and the present museum
building erected at a cost of $648,000. The exposition
full
THE ART INSTITUTE.
Michigan avenue and Van Buren street and a substan-
tial brick building erected. Three years later additional
property was secured and the building now occupied by
the Chicago Club erected. This building was dedicated
in November, 1887, but it soon was outgrown although
additions were made to it during the next five years.
In 1892 the structure was sold to the Chicago Club and
the enterprise of erecting the present magnificent build-
ing undertaken.
Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by
the \Vorld's Fair in 1892, the Art Institute entered into
a compact with the Columbian Exposition directors
company paid $200,000 of this sum and the Art Insti-
tute $448,000, most of which was realized from the sale
of the old building, at Van Buren street and Michigan
avenue. The ownership of the building was vested in the
city until 1904 when it was turned over to the South
Park commissioners, while the right of use and occupa-
tion was vested in the Art Institute, as long as it shall
fulfill the purposes for which it was organized. A special
provision was also made for keeping it open free to the
public three times a week.
In possession of this magnificent structure on the
Lake Front the Art Institute at once began to receive
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
67
generous recognition from art patrons. Within a year
after its completion it received gifts of fine art objects
equal in value to half of the cost of the new structure.
More than an equal amount has since been received,
which never would have been offered if a proper place
had not been provided for their reception.
During 1897 Charles W. Fullerton donated funds to
build a lecture room in accordance with the original
plans of the building, as a memorial to his father,
Alexander N. Fullerton. In igoo-'oi the Ryerson
Library was built and donated by Martin A. Ryerson,
one of the trustees. It contains about 4,000 volumes
strictly confined to fine art and includes many valuable
works. It is a beautiful and commodious building and is
consulted annually by over 50,000 persons. In 1903 a
great sculpture hall, comprising the fourth side of the
building, was erected by Mr. and Mrs. Timothy B.
Blackstone. The hall was named after the donors, who
also presented the great collection of architectural casts
by which it is filled. Before the original design of the
building is completed there will be added a grand
central stairway and dome and extensive galleries over
the Blackstone Sculpture Hall.
During the past ten years the collections given to
the care of the institute have been numerous and impor-
tant. It now ranks in this respect among the first three
or four of the country. Among these contributions are
the following :
The Henry Field collection of paintings presented
by the widow of Mr. Field. It comprises forty-one
pictures and represents chiefly the Barbizon School of
French Painting.
The Munger collection bequeathed by Albert A.
Munger after they had been on exhibition in the insti-
tute some time. This fine collection of paintings is one
of the most comprehensive in the galleries.
The Nickerson collections presented by Mr. and
Mrs. Samuel M. Nickerson, comprising a fine array of
Japanese, Chinese and East Indian objects of art and
a collection of modern paintings. The Nickersons also
bore the expense of fitting up two galleries and the
adjacent corridor with marble wainscoting and mosaic
floor for the reception of the collection. This is the
most magnificent single gift received by the institute up
to this time.
The Elbridge G. Hall collection of sculpture donated
by Mrs. A. M. H. Ellis. It includes only life-sized
facsimiles of original works of sculpture, both of the
renaissance and modern schools, the contemporary col-
lection being the finest in America.
The Higinbotham collection comprising 109 fac-
simile reproductions of the antique bronzes of the
Naples museum, statues, busts, tripods, statuettes, lamps
and other objects found at Herculaneum and Pompeii.
The collection was presented by Harlow N. Higin-
botham.
One of the most notable additions to the collections
of the galleries was the purchase of thirteen paintings
from the Demidoff collection in 1890. These are works
of the highest value by the old masters of the Dutch
school and the reception of these pictures marked an
epoch in the artistic development of the city.
The total endowments of the institute only aggre-
gate $163,400 and most of this is restricted. In fact,
only $39,400 is for the general purposes of the insti-
tute. Heretofore its support has been derived wholly
from membership, dues, door fees and voluntary con-
tributions. There are about 2,000 annual and 400 life
members of various classes. Annual members pay
$10 a year and life members $100 and henceforth are
exempt. Governing members pay $100 upon election
and $25 a year clues. Upon payment of $400 govern-
ing members become life governing members. Since
the transfer of the Art Institute to the park commis-
sioners they have been authorized by the legislature to
permit extensions of the building and levy a tax for its
support and that of the Field Columbian Museum. This
will be a great advantage to the institute and allow
the use of the membership dues and donations to be
used in the purchase of additional works of art.
Such has been the progress of the Chicago Art
Institute in the twenty-five years of its existence, prac-
tically without an endowment and supported mainly
by the openhanded liberality of hundreds of its public-
spirited men and women. This fact has made it more
dear to Chicago and though in time it will enjoy, no
doubt, the millions of many of its present supporters,
the fact that it was not the growth of the munificence
of any single person will bring a riper fruitage in the
future.
In directing the artistic development of Chicago
in the past few years, the Municipal Art League has
had an important part. The objects of the organiza-
tion are to encourage the improvement of the thorough-
fares, public buildings and places of the city along purely
artistic lines. It also aims to show officials and people
the best methods of bringing about artistic municipal
improvements and create in the individual a spirit of
co-operation in the care of private property. While the
membership of the league is selected by the mayor it
has only advisory functions. Its governing board con-
sists of the mayor or commissioner of public works,
three park commissioners, three sculptors, three archi-
tects and three painters. Since its incorporation in
1901, the league has made many valuable suggestions.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE CHURCHES OF CHICAGO.
HICAGO'S spiritual and temporal
developments have gone hand in
hand. From the first discovery of
the portage between the waters of
the Great Lakes and the Mississippi,
when Father Marquette and La Salle
pierced the northwestern wilderness,
the two great forces of advancing
civilization went hand in hand. As
the city has grown rich and powerful,
so the churches have increased in
wealth and influence, until they number
nearly a thousand with a membership of over a
million.
To a Catholic priest belongs the honor of having
conducted the first religious service in the territory now
embraced in the limits of the City of Chicago. Father
Badin, who is credited with being the first priest
ordained in America, came to Chicago in 1796, three
years after his admission to the priesthood in Baltimore.
His second visit to Chicago was in 1822, at which time
he performed the first baptism.
The Baptists were the next religious organization
to come to the city. In 1825 the Rev. Isaac McCoy,
a Baptist preacher, came to Chicago from his station in
Michigan and preached the first sermon in the English
tongue. The next year the pioneer Methodist preacher
of Chicago appeared in the person of the Rev. Jesse
Walker, who at the time was in charge of the Fox
River Mission.
It was not until five years later that Chicago was
formally recognized as a field for religious work. Dur-
ing the year the Illinois Methodist conference estab-
lished the "Chicago Mission district," and began the
holding of a regular weekly prayer meeting. This was
followed by the establishing of a Sunday-school the fol-
lowing year. It was the Catholic church, however, that
planted the first church in Chicago. St. Mary's parish
was started in May, 1833, and the first church built
at what is now the southwest corner of Madison street
and Wabash avenue. The next month the First Pres-
byterian church was established, followed by the First
Baptist in October of the same year. The pioneer
leaders of these religious flocks were Father John Mary
Irenseus St. Cyr, the Rev. Jeremiah Porter and the
Rev. Allen B. Freeman. From this small beginning
the great religious strength of Chicago has grown. The
next year, in 1834, the First Methodist church was
established and the first resident preacher installed.
Other denominations were soon attracted to the
growing young village at the lower end of Lake Michi-
gan. In 1836 the Episcopalians, Universalists and Uni-
tarians each established a church and installed resident
clergymen. St. James was the pioneer Protestant Epis-
copal parish. This goodly start sufficed for the next
nine years and it was not until 1845 that other congre-
gations were formed. In that year the few Jews living
here organized a religious society. The German
Lutherans established a church the same year and
two years later the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran
church was founded. In 1849 the Swedenborgians built
their first house of worship and the Christian church
followed during the next year.
These different denominations fully met the religious
requirements of early Chicago. There were many Con-
gregationalists among the early Chicago settlers, but
they for many years affiliated themselves with the Pres-
byterians. It was not until 1851 that they established
an independent church of their own denomination. The
First Presbyterian church was founded by a Congrega-
tionalist and most of its members were of the same
faith. This Presbyterian tendency of the Congrega-
tionalists continued until there was a division over the
anti-slavery question. Congregationalism has been
strongest in the New England and northern states and
68
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
69
they had no churches south of Mason and Dixon's
line in the early days. On the other hand the Presby-
terians were strong in the South. So the advocates
of the anti-slavery movement fellowshipped with the
slave owners reluctantly and as a relief organized the
first church of their own denomination. The movement
flourished for the next ten years as did the sentiment
against the ownership of slaves, and since then has
stood, like all other denominations upon its intrinsic
merits as a branch of the general church.
Such were the diverse beginnings of Chicago from
an ecclesiastical point of view. It would be impracti-
cable within the space of this chapter to follow, step
by step, the church growth of this city, but having
pointed out the pioneer stage of the different denomi-
nations which gained a foothold in the early years of
Chicago, it only remains to give some idea of the growth
to which Chicago has now attained in its religious
development.
A stranger visiting Chicago is likely to be surprised
at not seeing any churches in the central, or down-town,
portions of the city. In the earlier days of Chicago
churches in the business district were comparatively
numerous. As the city grew, some of these were
removed up-town, the better to accommodate the peo-
ple. In the great fire of 1871 all that were left were
swept away. The scattered, and for the time impover-
ished, members found it necessary to rebuild elsewhere
nearer their own new homes. Now, between the lake
on the east and Halsted street on the west, and between
Chicago avenue on the north and Twelfth street on the
south, there are scarcely a dozen churches of all denomi-
nations.
The number of churches and missions owned by
the various denominations and sects is constantly grow-
ing. At the beginning of 1905 their strength was as
follows :
Denomination.
Churches.
Missions.
Estimated
Membership.
10
525
72
14
22,000
Christian
22
8
2,8oo
81
14
2I.OOO
Christian Catholic
9
450
6
1,500
4
2OO
Cumberland Presbyterian
5
900
i
I
75
48
7
10,500
8
2,500
I
900
13
9,200
119
23
45,000
27
1,500
6
i
1,200
7
900
Greek
2
400
Holland Christian Reformed
5
500
9
2,200
37
7,500
147
2
40,000
Methodist Protes'ant
i
IOO
5
525
52
12
1,500
15
I
2,300
i
150
Catholic
277
49
1,200,000
Independent Polish Catholic
6
2,500
24
5,000
5
1,000
United Presbyterian
7
1,000
4
500
12
I, 500
9
8
2.OOO
BEDFORD BUILDING.
The number of churches and missions by no means
represents the activities of the various religious socie-
ties. Schools, convents, hospitals and other institu-
TO
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
tions are included in the good work that is being done
and is constantly on the increase.
Every ordinarily live and enterprising church has,
besides its Sunday-school, numerous associated educa-
tional agencies. Moreover, many of the churches have
their own parish schools. Nearly all the denominations
have their own theological seminaries, and several of
these are richly endowed and of national importance.
One of these is the Chicago Theological Seminary (Con-
gregational), on Ashland boulevard, at Union Park.
The Presbyterians have their McCormick Theological
Seminary, which the C. H. McCormick family founded
and have done so much to enrich ; their Presbyterian
Hospital and the Lake Forest University. The latter,
though located a few miles north of the city, is in fact
a Chicago Presbyterian institution.
The Methodists have their great Northwestern Uni-
versity, with its Garrett Biblical Institute, at Evanston.
The Baptists have their University of Chicago, which
already has property and endowment of about
$10,000,000. Although many of the munificent gifts
for its buildings and endowments have come from mem-
bers of other religious organizations, the majority of its
trustees must always be members of the Baptist church.
It is moreover necessary in this connection to make
mention of the strong denominational press of the
several leading denominations. The Baptist Standard,
of which Mr. Edward Goodman and the Rev. Dr. J. A.
Smith were respectively publisher and editor for over
forty years, still stands as one among the best period-
icals of the denomination. The Congregational organ.
The Advance, which was started in October, 1867, and
has numbered among its editors such men as Dr. W. W.
Patton, Gen. Charles H. Howard and Dr. Simeon Gil-
bert, still keeps its lead as the representative paper of
its denomination. The Interior is considered the lead-
ing journal of the Presbyterian denomination in
America. It was started through the influence of the
late Cyrus H. McCormick two years after The Advance.
Dr. \Y '. C. Gray has been its editor ever since 1871, and
it may be said of him that he has few superiors in the
line of editorial work in this or any other country. The
Northwestern Christian Advocate, as the organ of the
Methodist church, is also among the best publications
of its kind. Dr. Arthur Edwards, the editor for over
thirty years, has been one of the most able and popular
men in the denomination. All these with the Living
Church (Episcopal), the Catholic World and many other
denominational journals, very ably represent the
religious influences of the city.
Taken as a whole, the churches of Chicago have
from the first shared abundantly in the vigilant and out-
pushing enterprise characteristic of Chicago. Their
influence in many ways has not only penetrated and
influenced the life of the city, but has gone out into
all parts of the country tributary thereto.
UNION PARK.
CHAPTER XV.
CHICAGO PARKS
CHICAGO at the beginning of her sec-
ond century is planning the greatest
park system in the world. For its
, fulfillment we have the assurance
born of an energetic past and an
awakened civic pride conscious of its
obligation to the future.
Starting with the present park
area of 3,174 acres, this stupendous
plan contemplates the bringing of
more than ten times that amount of
park lands into a great system of pleasure
grounds, which will entirely girdle the Chicago of the
future and put a playground almost at the door of every
man, woman and child of the great metropolis of the
West, be they rich or poor, dweller of mansion or tene-
ment.
The general plan of Chicago's great park extension
plan can be divided into three distinct enterprises:
First, the establishment of internal parks in the
densely populated section within the area bounded by
the present park system and Lake Michigan. This
enterprise comprehends the erection of neighborhood-
center buildings and the improvement of Grant Park
to five times its present size. The present large parks
and boulevards are considered sufficient for the terri-
tory immediately contiguous to them, with the excep-
tion of Lincoln Park, which is to have an extensive
addition.
Second, the establishment of an outer belt of forest
and meadow tracts connected by parkways, which
would encircle the future city of Chicago after its
suburbs to the north, south and west had come into its
corporate boundaries.
Third, the boulevarding of the east edge of the
city along the lake shore for its entire length, except
where parks and boulevards already exist.
When this system is a reality Chicago will take its
place at the head of American cities in park area and
applied facilities and for artistic attractiveness rival the
beauties of Paris.
The beginning of Chicago's park system was Dear-
born Park, now the site of the Public Library, created
in 1839. As the city grew for the next twenty years
no systematic plan for parks was adopted. Small areas
were set aside and improved, among them being Wash-
ington Square on the North Side, Jefferson, Lhiioii,
Vernon and Wicker parks on the West Side, and Ellis,
Douglas Monument, Woodland and Groveland parks
on the South Side. Of these none but Union Park
comprised more than five acres. The latter contains
but seventeen acres. In addition to these, thirty-four
other small areas, many of them mere triangles at street
intersections were created into parks.
The real beginning of Chicago's great system pf
parks and boulevards was in 1860, when an agitation
was started urging the city to devote a tract of fifty-
nine acres between Webster avenue and Menominee
street, and Clark street and the lake for park purposes.
This land had been secured by the city eight years
before on account of emergencies arising from an epi-
demic of cholera. The land was intended to be used
as a cemetery, hospital grounds and quarantine sta-
tion. The cost of the fifty-nine acres was $8,851.50.
The cemetery was used as a place of burial until 1866,
and the hospital was not torn down until 1870. The
rapid growth of the North Side soon showed that it
would be necessary to do away with a burial ground
so near to the center of the city, and, because of the
agitation of the citizens and physicians, the sale of burial
lots was stopped in 1859. In the following year the
city council passed an ordinance reserving the north
section of the cemetery for park purposes. For several
years little was done toward laying out a park, and it
71
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
was left a stretch of sand waste, with scattering thickets
of scrub oak and willows. A few walks were built and
it began to be known as "the park." Definite action
by the council took place in 1864, when an ordinance
was passed declaring that this property should be set
aside as a public park to be known as "Lake Park."
The next year the name was changed to "Lincoln
Park," and an appropriation of $10,000 made for its
improvement. A landscape gardener was employed
and drives and walks were laid out and trees planted.
Less than half the appropriation was used up the first
year.
Slow progress was made until 1869 when the citi-
zens of the North Side joined with the citizens of the
South and West sides in securing the needed legislation
at Springfield for establishing park districts and com-
missions as separate taxing and governing bodies.
These commissions proceeded in an orderly, systematic
way to establish the present magnificent chain of con-
nected parks, which has placed Chicago in the front
rank of American cities in park facilities. This chain
includes Lincoln Park on the North Side. Humboldt,
Garfield and Douglas parks on the West Side and Wash-
ington and Jackson parks on the South Side, with their
connecting boulevards. Two more parks were recently
added to this chain along Western Avenue boulevard,
McKinley Park at Thirty-seventh street and Gage
Park at Fifty-fifth street.
The park area after the establishment of these parks
in 1870 was 1,887 acres. In the next ten years it was
increased to 2,000 acres and remained at that figure
until 1900, when the great movement for the establish-
ment of the most comprehensive park system in the
world was started. As a result in a few years the area
had grown to 3,174 acres, embracing eighty-four parks
and the boulevards connecting them are thirty-four in
number and fifty miles long.
LINCOLN PARK.
Lincoln Park as it is to-day was made possible by
the passage of the first park act, February 8, 1869. This
act appointed E. B. McCagg, John B. Turner, Andrew
Nelson, Joseph Stockton and Jacob Rehm, commis-
sioners of Lincoln Park. They were to serve for five
years, or until their successors were selected by the
judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County. This last
provision of the law was subsequently changed so that
commissioners are now appointed by the governor. The
first board met with many obstacles. Law suits were
instituted against them and they were harassed in many
ways. They took in the cemetery grounds to the south
of the original tract and all the bodies buried there
were ordered removed and interred at various other
cemeteries in the vicinity of the city.
With its connecting boulevards Lincoln Park now
embraces 409 acres. An increase of area is to be made
to the north along the Lake Shore which will add
several hundred acres and give it another mile of shore
line in addition to its present four and a half miles of
water front. One million dollars are available for this
purpose. No other large park in the city is so advan-
tageously situated and so easily reached. As a result it
is the most popular playground in Chicago, and
immense crowds enjoy its beautiful drives, walks, shady
meadows and lawns, and picturesque lagoons. It con-
tains a magnificent collection of statuary, the heroic
figure of the martyred president from whom it received
its name, and that of General Grant being the most
striking.
The horticultural features of Lincoln Park are espe-
cially attractive. The old English garden is a most
delightful place to loiter in on summer days, and its
floral displays are unrivalled. The propagating houses
are new and extensive, and its greenhouses, ferneries,
and palmhouse can hardly be surpassed in this
country.
The pride and distinctive feature of Lincoln Park,
however, is its "zoo." In the cages and enclosures are
confined one of the best and most instructive collections
of animals in America. There is a herd of buffaloes
that has steadily increased until it has completely out-
grown the five-acre range provided for it. All the great
fauna and bird families of the globe are represented,
and are the delight and wonder to armies of boys and
girls, as well as the adult population of the entire city.
The Lincoln Park board has $500,000 available for
the purchase of small parks, and negotiations are now
under way for their purchase. These will be equipped
with neighborhood-center houses and made as attract-
ive and beautiful as the means at hand permits. Unlike
the other sections of the city, the North Side has its
great park so located that it is accessible to the most
crowded part of its territory, and its lake shore is not
cut off as it is on the South Side by the Illinois Central
tracks.
THE SOUTH PARKS.
The act for the appointing of the South Park com-
missioners was passed by the legislature in February,
1869, and on the 23d of the same month Governor
Palmer named John M. Wilson, Chauncey Bowen,
George W. Gage, L. B. Sidway and Paul Cornell, to
take charge of carrying out the provisions of the law.
They had large ideas as to what the parks of the South
Side should be, and the magnificent stretches of Wash-
ington and Jackson parks with their connecting boule-
vard bear evidence of their foresight. An issue of
$2,000,000 bonds was floated and with the proceeds
about 1.500 acres of land were purchased.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
The first work of improvement was begun, on what
is now Washington Park. Landscape architects were
employed and plans for laying out the park submitted.
During the next two years great progress was made
until the great fire in 1871 caused a suspension of the
work for about a year. In 1872, however, the public
spirit of the South Side was aroused and a public move-
ment for the improvement of the parks was begun. The
commissioners were short of funds, and under the
existing conditions hesitated about offering another
bond issue. They called upon the citizens for assist-
ance and the response was enthusiastic. Contributions
were worked there in the course of the next year will
never be forgotten, though the White City has van-
ished, and all the magnificent structures except the
crumbling art palace, now occupied as a temporary
home by the Field Columbian Museum, have vanished.
This structure and the German building were the only
reminders of the World's Fair left in two years, and
the park has been fully restored.
No park in Chicago has such magnificent vistas as
Jackson Park. Its driveways are laid out on magnifi-
cent lines, and its stretches of meadow and lawns are
highly artistic and restful. Against it cannot be brought
GARFIELD PARK.
were also solicited abroad, and plants and seeds in
abundance came from the botanical gardens of Europe
and Asia. Greenhouses were erected and the grounds
plowed and fertilized. Lakes and lagoons were exca-
vated, and before the close of the '705 1,057 acres had
been improved in Washington and Jackson parks. By
1884 all the floating debts of the parks had been paid,
the special assessments for park purposes on the South
Side, up to that time, amounting to $4,709,632.
Jackson Park will always be remembered as the site
of the Columbian Exposition. For this purpose the
commissioners turned over 666 acres, including the
stretch along the Midway Plaisance. The wonders that
the criticism, that has been made against some of the
other parks of Chicago, that it is overdeveloped. With
a magnificent water front, its beauty is further enhanced
by an extensive system of lagoons in the center of which
is the "Wooded Island," where are still the quaint tea
houses of the Japanese exhibit at the World's Fair. Its
rose garden is a spot of surpassing beauty and interest.
It has excellent golf links and many tennis courts. The
total area of these parks and their boulevards is 1,500
acres.
Grant Park on the Lake Front is being enlarged to
five times its present size, and will become the site of the
Field Columbian Museum and the Crerar Librarv.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
CROQUET GROUNDS— GARFIELD PARK.
For this and other improvements recent enactments
by the legislature make $2,000.000 available to the
South Park board.
The South Park commissioners were the first to
act under the statute of 1903, which gave them the
authority to purchase sites for small internal parks, in
the crowded residence districts. In many of the quarters
a blade of green grass was a novelty. With the $1,000,-
ooo immediately available they purchased fourteen
parks, located as follows: Bessemer Park, Eighty-
seventh and Lake Shore tracks in South Chicago ;
Cornell Park, Fifty-first, Lincoln, Wood and Fiftieth
streets; Davis Square, Hermitage, Marshfield, Forty-
fourth and Forty-fifth streets ; Hamilton Park in Engle-
wood, Seventy-second and the Rock Island tracks ;
Hardin Square, Twenty-fifth and Wentworth avenue;
Palmer Park, One hundred and eleventh street and
Indiana avenue ; Russell Square, Eighty-third and
Houston streets; Mark White Square, Twenty-ninth
and Halsted streets; Armour Square, Thirtieth and
Shields avenue; Marquette Park, Seventy-first and Cal-
ifornia avenue; Ogden Park, Sixty-seventh and Centre
avenue; Sherman Park, Garfield boulevard and Centre
avenue ; Calumet Park, Ninety-fifth street and the lake
in South Chicago, and an unnamed park at Forty-
sixth and Stewart avenue.
The commission had started out to provide simple
parks, but the conditions showed that such places to be
serviceable to the city where seventy per cent of the
people live in contracted quarters, must be more than
breathing places with flowers, grass, trees and perhaps
a pond and fountain. So its was decided to equip them
with gymnasia, libraries, baths, refectories, club rooms
and halls for meetings and theatricals, making them a
rallying place and center of interest and inspiration for
the betterment of the condition of the people of the dis-
trict. Following out this idea their improvement was
begun. Each park is being equipped with a field house
or neighborhood-center building. This contains a
gymnasium for women and girls, provided with appara-
tus, shower bath, plunge bath and lockers. A similar
gymnasium is provided for men and boys. At the
refectories wholesome foods are sold at first cost. Club
rooms, where meetings of athletic clubs, sewing guilds
and other organizations are held, and an assembly hall
are also provided in each field house. These vary in
size, in accordance with the neighborhood served, from
a seating capacity of 1,000 to 3,000.
These field houses are of artistic design and con-
structed mainly of cement and concrete.
THE WEST PARKS.
The Wrest Park system had its real beginning by the
enactment of the legislature which established the parks
of the two other great divisions of the city. The first
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
75
board appointed in February, 1869, -was made up as
follows : Charles C. P. Hoklen, Henry Greenebaum,
George W. Stanford, Eben F. Runyan, Isaac R. Hitt.
Clarke Lipe and David Cole. The new board was
authorized to expend $400.000 for the purchase of land
for a boulevard and park sites in the districts in which
are now located Garfield, Douglas and Humboldt parks
and their connecting boulevards.
The great fire followed by the panic of 1873 were
hardships the first board had to contend with, but they
were all overcome successfully. The work progressed
favorably until 1877 when a scandal, growing out of
charges of mismanagement, brought about a reorgan-
ization of the commission. Again in 1896 the West
Park system received a hard blow by the defalcation
of its treasurer, which left it clipped financially. This
was met by remedial legislation at Springfield, and under
new management the parks have made greater progress
than ever before. The park board at this time also
changed its attitude towards the city streets adjoining
or running through park property by deciding to
co-operate with the property owners in improving these
thoroughfares, and not saddling the entire Cost on the
abutting property owners. This has resulted in greatly
improving these thoroughfares, and has attracted to
them many handsome private residences, which had
been kept away because of the unfavorable conditions
governing their improvement.
Garfield Park, the most highly improved of the
larger parks, covers 188 acres, lying four miles directly
west of the city hall. It was formerly known as Central
Park, the name being changed in memory of President
Garfield. Madison and Lake streets divide it into three
parts, each of which has been distinctively developed.
That portion north of Lake street is sparsely wooded
with rolling, winding roadways and shallow brooks, in
close imitation of New England farm lands. The area
south of Madison street has been given over to an
elaborate system of drives and promenades, twining
about a massive marble band-stand, and splendidly
equipped cycling and trotting courses. The central por-
tion is ornately laid out, yet so closely has nature been
followed that it is difficut for the visitor to detect in the
winding lake, the sloping lawns and nodding trees any
trace of the handiwork of those who have built a beau-
tiful rural scene upon what was a stretch of level prairie.
To the north of Garfield Park is Humboldt, and to
the south Douglas Park, the three connected by the
boulevard planned in 1869. Humboldt is the largest
of the West Side parks, and contains 206 acres, while
Douglas contains a few acres less than Garfield.
Humboldt Park has a fine lake covering twenty-
three acres, a new boathouse and its beauty is greatly
VIEW— WEST CHICAGO PARK.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
enhanced by lily ponds, magnificent driveways and
walks. It has a thoroughly equipped hothouse and in
connection with this is an extensive nursery containing
thousands of trees and shrubs, embracing no less than
1,200 distinct varieties. It is named after the great
German naturalist, Alexander von Humboldt, and is
bounded by Augusta street, Grand, Kedzie, California
and North avenues.
Douglas Park is named after Lincoln's great adver-
sary. It is divided by Ogclen avenue, and much of the
section lying to the south has been only reclaimed from
its natural state during the past five or six years. By
Avenue boulevard have recently been added to the
magnificent chain of West Side parks, and are being
rapidly improved. In addition to this chain of greater
park areas there are six smaller breathing spots, which
have been turned over from time to time to the West
Park commissioners. These are Union, Jefferson,
Vernon, Wicker, Campbell and Shedd's parks. Twelve
boulevards are now included in the West Park system.
They are Humboldt, Central, Douglas. Southwest,
Washington, Jackson, Ashland, Twelfth street, Ogden,
Central Park, Homan and Oakley. All the boulevards,
with the exception of Southwest are lighted with elec-
co-operating with the drainage board the park commis-
sioners secured many improvements at a low cost. An
immense quantity of dirt needed for filling in the park
and the Southwest boulevard was secured from the
canal commissioners, and they were in turn granted
concessions in the construction of the bridge over the
canal at the boulevard crossing. In this way the park
was improved in less than a year to an extent that would
have taken a decade to accomplish under ordinary con-
ditions. The lake at Douglas Park is over twenty-six
acres in extent, and is the largest on the West Side.
Lily ponds, bridges, conservatories and other improve-
ments have made Douglas Park one of the most attract-
ive pleasure grounds in the city.
McKinley Park and Gage Park, the one at Thirty-
seventh and the other at Fifty-fifth street and Western
tricity, which is furnished by the lighting plant of the
West Park system.
The West Park board has done nothing towards
establishing small neighborhood parks as yet. It has
$1,000,000 available for this purpose, but is waiting
for certain questions as to the legality of the bond issue
to be settled before issuing the securities.
THE MUNICIPAL PLAYGROUNDS.
The beginning of the present movement in Chicago
to enlarge its park facilities first took form in 1900, when
the city council appointed a commission known as the
Special Park commission, to investigate and report on
the conditions in the congested districts of the city, as
to what could be done to provide a remedy. In the few
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
years of its existence this commission has done much
practical work in establishing playgrounds in addition
to bringing prominently to the attention of the public,
the need of Chicago at once engaging in an extensive
scheme to enlarge its park area on a plan consistent
with its present size, and with a view to providing
facilities for its great future growth. In this work the
Special Park commission has performed a service of
incalculable value. The nine municipal playgrounds
established and maintained by the city are located as
follows :
Webster ground, Thirty-third street and Wentworth
avenue ; Moseley ground, Twenty-fourth street and
Wabash avenue; Holden ground, Bonfield and Thirty-
first street; McLaren ground, West Polk street near
Laflin street ; Jones ground, Plymouth place, south of
Harrison street ; Orleans ground, Orleans street and
Institute place; Northwestern Elevated Railway
ground, Larrabee and Alaska streets; Adams ground,
Seminary avenue near Center street; Lincoln ground,
West Chicago avenue near Robey street. Some of
these grounds are owned by the city, while others are
donated for this use by individuals. The city spends
annually $20,000 a year to maintain them. They are
equipped with swings and other outdoor apparatus for
gymnastic exercises, and are in charge of a competent
athletic director, assisted by a policeman, and in the
summer by a trained kindergartner. A superintendent,
who donates his services to the cause has a general
direction of the playgrounds. The children of the
neighborhoods in which these playgrounds are located
are greatly benefited and kept from the streets. As a
practical work in improving the citizenship of the com-
ing generation no work undertaken by a municipality
is productive of greater results than this. It offers a
field for public spirited citizens of means to do a lasting
good by donating grounds for these bright spots in the
lives of the children of the tenements.
CHICAGO'S GREAT PARKS OF THE FUTURE.
Thirty-seven thousand acres of parks is the dream
of Chicago's greatness for the future. The Metropolitan
Park report submitted by the Special Park commission
outlines this stupendous undertaking. Henry G. Fore-
man, former president of the South Park commissioners
and of the Outer Belt Park commission thus takes a
look into the future: "Grant Park is the axis of the
inner and outer belts of parks and boulevards. In it are
the buildings of the Art Institute, Crerar Library, and
Field Columbian Museum. From Grant Park as the hub,
the system expands in the form of half a wheel. The
diagonal city streets are the spokes; the inner belt of
parks and boulevards is the support of the spokes; the
outer belt of preserves and parkways is the tire ; and the
inner and outer systems are merged into the broad
shore boulevard. All parts of the great recreation area
are accessible quickly by transportation lines at low
fares. When this system is a reality, Chicago will take
its place at the head of American cities in park area and
applied facilities. It will then be the Paris of America
for artistic attractiveness."
The sites for this outer park belt as outlined by the
report of the special commission follow :
i. — A three-eighths mile strip along the north line
of Cook County from Lake Michigan to the Skokee,
an ancient back bay now a marsh in springtime and prai-
rie in summer, thence south and west embracing all of
the Skokee within Cook County for a distance of about
sixteen miles, terminating in the Peterson woods at
Bowmanville and covering an area of 8,320 acres.
2. — A strip along the Evanston drainage canal
through the northeast section of the city to the lake.
This strip might be widened in certain places to make
beautiful residence parks with lagoons in the center.
3. — By country drive along the north county line
from the Skokee to the Desplaines river; thence south
through Wheeling, Desplaines, Franklin Park, River
Forest and Riverside to the Drainage Canal, a distance
of twenty-five miles, covering an area of 8,800 acres.
4. — A strip running west along Salt Creek from
Riverside to Western Springs, thence south along Flag
Creek, or the high ground one mile east, to Willow
Springs.
5. — The highlands and forest at Mt. Forest and
Willow Springs, the north half mile of the hills of Palos,
and the intervening Sag Valley, are recommended for
a great forest reserve and city camping ground. There
are 7,360 acres in this tract, and it differs from the
others in that it is not long and narrow, but is nearer
an oval in shape.
6. — A parkway along the proposed South Chicago
Drainage Canal from the main canal to Blue Island.
Thence along the Calumet river to Lake Calumet, and
all around the latter, including about 1,500 acres south
of the lake ; making a park of nearly 3,000 acres of land
and as much more of water in the midst of one of the
greatest manufacturing centers in the world.
7. — The Hyde Park Reefs in the lake form a menace
to navigation and it is proposed to cover them with
spoil from the drainage canal banks or from subways,
so as to make island parks. Similar treatment should
be given the submerged land along the lake shore from
Jackson Park to Grant Park. The Illinois Central can-
not be moved, but the shore can be and thus restore it
and the lake to the people and preserve and embellish
our best known "natural feature" — the lake — for
posterity.
CHAPTER XVI.
CHICAGO'S NEWSPAPERS.
HE first newspaper printed in Chi-
cago bears the date of Tuesday,
November 26, 1833. It was called
the Chicago Democrat and had for
its motto Franklin's splendid apho-
rism, "Where Liberty Dwells,
There Is My Country." The pio-
neer journalist of the city was John
Calhoun, who came west for the
purpose of starting a paper in this
village. He was a sturdy admirer of Andrew Jackson.
Having the field all to himself, his paper was the
official organ of the town. His monopoly was not
long enjoyed. In the summer of 1835 a Whig
paper, the American, was established by F. O. Davis.
Neither of these newspapers' founders had any very
considerable career in the profession. The first citizen of
Chicago to make himself a power in journalism was
John Wentworth, one of the most unique characters in
the early history of the city. He came here fresh from
Dartmouth College, and soon bought out Mr. Calhoun.
His original intention was to be a lawyer, but he found
journalism suited to his taste. He was an ardent Demo-
crat, with an aptitude for politics. As a writer, he had
a biting wit, pungent personal paragraphs being his
forte. For a long time he had associated with him
Joseph K. C. Forrest, also a pungent writer, but a man
of varied gifts, writing fluently and often brilliantly on
all current topics. The Democrat became a morning
daily just before the presidential campaign of 1840. It
continued in existence and under Mr. Wentworth's con-
trol until its discontinuance in 1861, going out of exis-
tence just as the era of newspaper prosperity was about
to begin. The name Democrat was used to the end, but
with the organization of the Republican party Mr.
Wentworth espoused the Republican cause.
The American, and a little later the Express, had
each a short and inconsequent existence, but the Chi-
cago Daily Journal, called later the Evening Journal,
which was started April 22, 1844, still lives. It was
really, but not nominally, started by Thurlow Weed
and a small coterie of close friends of William H. Seward
for the unavowed purpose of promoting the presidential
ambition of that great statesman. Mr. Richard L. Wil-
son, who as a young man was well known to Mr. Weed,
became its editor. He was often, and deservedly, called
the Prentice of the Northwest. His paragraphs were
models of keen wit. Between Wentworth and Wilson
was kept up a runnning fire of lampoonry. There was
no real malice in their warfare. Their sharp thrusts
contributed much to the enjoyment of the community.
Mr. Wrilson died in 1850, when his brother, Charles L.
Wilson, who had been associated with him for several
years succeeded to the editorship, which he retained
until his death, more than twenty years later. The
Journal remained true to Seward, even though Mr. Wil-
son was a warm personal friend of Abraham Lincoln.
Mr. Lincoln's friendship for the editor was, however,
unshaken. The Journal was a very influential and prof-
itable newspaper so long as it remained Republican in
politics. The managing editor for many years, Andrew
Shuman, was elected lieutenant-governor in 1876 in
recognition of the service rendered to the party by the
Evening and \Veekly Journal. The Journal continued
under the control of the Wilson family until the year
1895, when John R. Wilson, a nephew of the founder of
the paper, sold the controlling interest to James E.
Scripps and others of Detroit. Mr. Wilson, at the time
he sold, had been in control of the Journal for several
years and had continued to conduct it as a Republican
newspaper. The new purchasers, however, at once
changed it into an independent paper of a sensational
character. The change lost it many of its old subscrib-
78
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
ers, but eventually largely increased its subscription list.
The management continued in control of the Journal
with varying success, until the summer of 1904, when
its control was purchased by John Eastman, a veteran
Chicago newspaper man. His long experience in all
departments of active newspaper work in Chicago and
New York has been of great advantage in reviving the
paper's business and editorial prestige.
Numerous newspapers of a mushroom growth
sprang up in the forties, some of them dailies, but
only two gained a permanent foothold, the Chicago
Daily Tribune and the Staats Zeitung. The first number
of the Tribune was issued July 10, 1847. To Mr. For-
rest, so long the able assistant of Mr. Wentworth,
belongs the honor of being the most prominent of its
founders, but his connection with it was brief. Many
changes were made in a few years. In 1853 Mr. Joseph
Medill came to Chicago from Cleveland, and became
part owner of the paper and one of its editors. Soon
after Dr. C. H. Ray and William Bross became asso-
ciated with him, and for some years those three eminent
journalists were co-editors, with neither paramount in
authority. Dr. Ray was an accomplished and brilliant
writer, elegant in diction and ardent in temperament.
The great triumvirate worked together harmoniously,
albeit each man was of pronounced individuality. With
them was associated as publishers Mr. Alfred Cowles.
All four except Dr. Ray, continued their connection
with the paper until death, and for nearly a quarter of a
century Mr. Medill was editor-in-chief, and enjoyed the
distinction of being the dean of Chicago newspaper
men. At his death, early in 1899, he was succeeded by
Robert W. Patterson, long the managing editor of
the paper.
The Staats Zeitung was started in 1848, and was the
first Chicago newspaper of importance printed in the
German language. The first editor to achieve fame was
Captain George Schneider, who came to Chicago from
St. Louis in the summer of 1851 to assume the editor-
ship. He made the Staats Zeitung a daily of great
power. Being a strong advocate of freedom in all its
breadth of meaning, Captain Schneider was one of the
founders of the Republican party. During the Know-
Nothing craze he rendered great service to the country,
saving the Republican party from alliance with it. He
retired from the work on the Staats Zeitung to accept
a lucrative position under President Lincoln. He was
succeeded by two strong men, A. C. Hesing, as pub-
lisher, and Herman Raster as editor. With Mr. Raster
to wield the pen and Mr. Hesing "to do politics," the
paper was for about ten years one of the greatest
powers in Republican politics in the West. They broke
from the party in 1876. and afterwards the paper was
independent in politics. Being published in the German
language it suffered from the fact that American born
Germans naturally drift away from the language, both
spoken and written.
Washington Hesing succeeded to the property at
the death of his father. He was prominent in Demo-
cratic politics, and was postmaster and independent
candidate for mayor before his death. After his death
the Staats Zeitung property gradually declined until a
few years go it was absorbed by the Freie Presse.
While it is published under his own name as the morning
edition of the Freie Presse, it has lost much of its old
individuality. Both papers are under the control of
Richard Michaelis, as the head of the Illinois Publishing
Company.
The next important newspaper of Chicago in chron-
ological order was the Daily Times, founded in 1854.
From the beginning it was strongly Democratic in
politics. Four years later another Democratic morning
daily was started, called the Herald. The Times was a
Douglas organ, the Herald a Buchanan organ. Both
ran until 1860, when Cyrus H. McCormick, proprietor
of the Herald, bought the Times and merged them
under the name of the Herald-Times, the intention being
to drop the latter name. The next year, however, Wil-
bur F. Storey bought out McCormick, and, not carry-
ing out the intention of the former proprietor, dropped
the Herald and retained the name of the Times. Under
the editorship and management of Mr. Storey the Chi-
cago Times entered upon a great career as a newspaper.
Mr. Storey was a strong and daring character, and
devoted himself to building up the Times with a reck-
less disregard for morals and religion. He had a genius
for newspaper work, and with enterprise unprecedented
at that time used the telegaph to collect news from
all portions of the country, especially those portions
tributary to Chicago. Sensational and salacious matter
was given special prominence and the paper increased
rapidly in circulation and held an important place until
the failure of Mr. Storey's mind and his eventual
decease. After that it had an uncertain life, appearing
a great deal in the courts, where various people were
trying to get possession of what remained of it. It lived
a sickly life, however, until about the close of 1894, when
it suspended publication and became a part of the Her-
ald, under the name of the Times-Herald.
The Chicago Daily Herald was started in 1881 by
Frank W. Palmer and some other Republican politi-
cians, together with a few aspiring young journalists,
with James W. Scott as publisher. It had a trying sort
of existence for a few years until John R. Walsh joined
with Martin J. Russell and James W. Scott, purchased
it and put it on its feet. Mr. Russell was the editor and
Mr. Scott the publisher. It proved a great success.
Typographically it was the handsomest paper printed in
Chicago, if not in the United States. It grew rapidly in
favor as an independent Democratic paper, and event-
80
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
ually took position as the leading organ of the party.
Late in 1894, Mr. Russell having some time before
ceased his connection with the paper, Mr. Scott and a
syndicate of gentlemen purchased Mr. Walsh's interest,
at the same time purchasing what remained of the Chi-
cago Times, and consolidated the two papers as the
Times-Herald. The new parties that came into the deal
were led to do so by their confidence in Mr. Scott's
ffllS •
MARQUETTE BUILDING.
ability as a publisher and manager. That gentleman,
however, very suddenly died in April, 1895, before he
had secured any of the fruits of his great work. The
Evening Post, an afternoon paper that had been started
by the Herald and published as an afternoon edition,
was also a part of the Times-Herald property. On the
death of Mr. Scott both papers were sold to H. H.
Kohlsaat, who at once changed the papers from Demo-
cratic organs to independent papers
with Republican leanings. This was
in 1894. Mr. Kohlsaat started under
the most auspicious circumstances to
manage these great properties, but
his lack of training in the newspaper
business soon became manifest in the
guidance of the Herald and Post. He
was compelled to relinquish his control
of the Post several years ago and in
1903 practically ceased to be a factor
in the management of the Times-
Herald. A consolidation of the
Record and the Times-Herald was
brought about in the spring of 1901
as a means of saving the Herald and
also conserving a large financial inter-
est that Victor Lawson, publisher of
the Record, had secured in the Times-
Herald property. Frank B. Noyes, of
Washington, later became interested
and assumed control of the property,
Mr. Kohlsaat retiring from an active
participation in its management.
The Inter Ocean was the first
daily newspaper born in Chicago after
the great fire of 1871. The first num-
ber was published March 25, 1872.
J. Young Scammon one of the pio-
neers of Chicago was the founder.
As a lawyer, banker and philanthro-
pist he had stood at the forefront
almost ever since Chicago had a name.
He had had something to do with
the founding of more than one of the
pioneer papers of the city, but the
Inter Ocean was his individual enter-
prise, at least for the first few years of
its existence. It was radically Repub-
lican from the beginning. The Chi-
cago Tribune, which was the leading
Republican newspaper of the North-
west having bolted the nomination of
General Grant in 1872, gave great
opportunity for the Inter Ocean to
secure a strong hold on the party
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
81
throughout the northwest country, and being ably
edited it did much toward supplanting the
Tribune in Republican households. In 1875 Mr.
Scammon retired altogether from any connection with
The Inter Ocean, and a new company with William
Penn Nixon as editor and manager, took possession
of the property. Mr. Nixon continued from that time
as editor-in-chief and general manager of the paper
until 1897, when a controlling interest was purchased by
Charles T. Yerkes. The paper continued, as it had been
for twenty-five years, the ablest and most aggressive
exponent of Republican principles west of the Alleghany
mountains. After the purchase by Mr. Yerkes,
George W. Hinman of New York, succeeded Mr. Nixon
as editor-in-chief. Under his editorship the paper
showed increased vigor and aggressiveness and attracted
wide attention. In January, 1898, Mr. Nixon was
appointed collector of customs by President McKinley,
but continued as publisher of the Inter Ocean until 1902
or 1903, when the control of the paper was acquired
by Mr. Hinman. Under Mr. Hinman's personal con-
trol the Inter Ocean has been a power in the political
andXcivic activities of the city.
The weekly edition of the Inter Ocean secured the
widest circulation of any political and secular paper
published west of the Allegheny mountains. It is the
boast on its publishers that it has subscribers in every
W
state and'territory of the Union and many foreign coun-
tries. It is especially valuable as an advocate of Repub-
lican principles, and probably exercises a wider influ-
ence in states composing the northern portions of the
Mississippi and Missouri valleys than any other half
dozen publications. Its popularity as a family paper
added greatly to its influence politically.
The first one-cent paper published in Chicago was
the Chicago Daily News. The first number was issued
on Christmas Day, 1875. At first it was a paper devoted
almost entirely to local matters, being entirely outside
of the Associated Press, and being unable to spend much
money in securing telegraphic service. In spite of all
this, as a cheap evening paper, it grew in favor and early
fell into the hands of Victor F. Lawson and Melville E.
Stone. These men pushed it forward with great skill
and energy, and by purchasing the franchise of the Daily
Evening Post, which failed and was sold in 1878, it
became a member of the Associated Press. From that
day its forward step was rapid and until it became the
greatest money-making publication west of New York.
On March 21, 1881, a morning edition of the Daily
News was first published. On March 13, 1893, the name
of the morning edition was changed to the Chicago
Record. The Lawson papers have always been of the
class called independent, and support such policies and
men as best please the tastes or serve the interests of
their proprietor. The Record was consolidated with
the Times-Herald in 1901.
When Mr. Kohlsaat purchased the Times-Herald
and made it an independent newspaper it left the Demo-
cratic party without any newspaper to advocate its
principles. To fill this want Martin J. Russell, former
editor of the Herald, and H. W. Seymour, at one time
managing editor of the Daily Times, with the aid and
assistance of a prominent capitalist, started the Chicago
Chronicle. From the beginning it was ably edited and
grew in favor as a straight Democratic organ. It
declined to follow the party in 1896 and headed the bolt
of the Gold Democrats. While continuing radically
Democratic, its chief characteristics are great independ-
ence in action and in the advocacy both of men and
principles. John R. Walsh has been the virtual owner
of the Chronicle from the beginning and his pronounced
antagonism to the radical wing of the Democratic party
finally resulted in 1904 in a complete change in the polit-
ical policy of the paper, it coming out as an avowed
Republican organ.
W. R. Hearst is the last publisher who has entered
the daily newspaper field. In 1900 he started the Chi-
cago American, an afternoon paper, along the same
lines as his San Francisco and New York publications.
Highly sensational in tone and make-up his paper was
forced to the front with lavish expenditure of money
and soon had a large circulation. A morning edition
of the American was started which also achieved suc-
cess from the beginning. The morning edition is called
The Examiner. The papers are exponents of the
radical wing of the Democratic party, of which Mr.
Hearst is one of the acknowledged leaders. He has
used his various newspapers to expound his own per-
sonal views and advance his own political ambitions.
In addition to the above there are several daily papers
published in foreign languages. Among these the most
important are : The Freie Presse, published both morn-
ing and evening in the German language. Richard
Michaelis is editor and proprietor. It was at one time
Republican, but later supported the Democratic party.
The Abendpost, also German, is published as an evening
paper. Fritz Glogaur is editor and general manager.
The paper is conducted with considerable vigor and
with German-Americans has considerable influence.
The Skandinaven, John Anderson, editor and pro-
prietor; is the most influential newspaper among Norwe-
gians and their descendants of any publication in the
West or Northwest. It is independent in its tenden-
cies, but is generally with the Republican party. It
is published daily and weekly.
The religious newspapers of Chicago are probably
second to those of no other city of the nation. They are
numerous and many of them are prosperous. Outside
of the daily papers there are about 600 weekly papers—
82
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
political, religious, agricultural, sporting, mercantile,
manufacturing, banking and social — published in Chi-
cago. A number of these are published in foreign lan-
guages. All classes of newspapers are large contribu-
tors to the revenues of the postoffice. The total news-
paper and periodical mail sent out from Chicago for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1904, was 61,402,007 pounds,
for which the amount of postage paid .was $614,020.
Chicago has made a number of attempts at high-
grade literary magazines, but as yet only one or two of
them have met with more than ordinary success. While
it has proved a great center for success in daily and
weekly newspapers of various classes, those of an exclu-
sively literary character have generally been short-lived.
This is probably owing to the fact that literature is not
of a local character and the difference between the
delivery in Chicago of a magazine published in New
York or Boston and one published in Chicago .is so
small as to give no advantage whatever to a home pub-
lication. The older publications of the East, having
been long established, consequently have the great
advantage over new publications in public favor.
THE INTER OCEAN.
The Inter Ocean may be said to have been born
of the great fire of October, 1871. When the first num-
ber was issued, March 25, 1872, the remnants of the
great fire were still smoking and smoldering and the
ashes floated everywhere on the breeze. The paper
received, too, its Associated Press franchise, which gave
it actual life and possibility of living, by purchase from
the old Republican, which, after a varying struggle,
received its death-blow in the great disaster. The
Republican was started in 1865, and, notwithstanding
it had two of the greatest newspaper editors of the
times successively at its head, it had a struggling and
unsatisfactory existence, which resulted in a condition
in 1871 that only a good, sound body-blow was neces-
sary to end its troubles.
After the fire the stockholders and creditors were
glad to receive a paltry $10,000 for the Associated Press
franchise, which apparently was the only asset the paper
had left. J. Young Scammon, well known throughout
the state as lawyer, banker and capitalist, purchased
this franchise and started The Inter Ocean.
The Inter Ocean, from the beginning, was radi-
cally Republican and earnestly American in all things.
The Chicago Tribune, which for years had been the
leading Republican paper of Chicago and the North-
west, in 1872 bolted the nomination of General Grant,
thus leaving a wide field open to The Inter Ocean. This
great advantage was seized upon, and before the cam-
paign of 1872 was over The Inter Ocean had largely
supplanted the Tribune in Republican households. The
Weekly Inter Ocean gained an enormous circulation,
especially throughout the Northwest. It was earnest,
full of ideas and aggressively for Republican principles,
which greatly pleased the sturdy Republicans of the
country. In 1873 Frank W. Palmer, then a Representa-
tive in Congress from the Des Moines (Iowa) district,
purchased an interest in the paper and became the
editor. Mr. Palmer was a popular gentleman, with a
wide acquaintance, and added to the popularity of the
paper. The financial troubles of 1873 were disastrous,
however, to the fortunes of Mr. Scammon, and the
troubles of The Inter Ocean began, coming to a crisis
in the fall of 1875, when the old Inter Ocean Company,
on account of an accumulation of debts, failed, and the
paper was sold to a new corporation called the Inter
Ocean Publishing Company and came under the con-
trol of William Penn Nixon and his brother, Dr. O. W.
Nixon. There were three more years of struggle, when,
if it had not been for the income of the weekly edition,
which then had a circulation of 150,000 copies, the
daily must have failed, but, with the advent of new
perfecting presses and other labor-saving machinery,
it was brought safely through in good condition to
catch the better times that came in the early eighties.
In all its troubles The Inter Ocean never lost its
place as the leading Republican paper of the West. By
both leaders and the rank and file of the party it was
looked to as a guide and a mouthpiece. One of the
most marked features showing the influence of the
paper was in the change of sentiment on the question
of protection in the Northwest. The Chicago Tribune,
the St. Paul Pioneer-Press and the St. Louis Globe-
Democrat, three leading papers of the Northwest, had
for years been teaching tariff reform and tariff for
revenue until almost the entire Republican press of the
Northwest was more or less tainted with their heresies.
At the very beginning of its existence The Inter Ocean
combated these heresies and became the untiring advo-
cate of the protective policy. As a result, within ten
years, there was a complete change in the tone of the
press of the Northwest.
The first office of The Inter Ocean was on Congress
street, between Wabash and Michigan avenues, where
the Auditorium now stands. In 1873 it moved to Lake
street, near the corner of Clark. In 1880 it removed
from Lake street to 85 Madison street, between State
and Dearborn. From the time of its establishment at
the last-mentioned place it became a prosperous institu-
tion, although it still lacked the abundant capital to
push forward so great an enterprise.
On May, 1890, The Inter Ocean removed to the
corner of Madison and Dearborn streets and in May,
1900, to the new building on Monroe street, specially
constructed for it. With the exception of a period of
three years in the early nineties, Mr. Nixon was in
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
83
absolute control of the paper as
general manager and editor, from
1875 to 1897.
In May, 1891, Mr. Nixon sold
a larg-e block of stock to Mr. H.
H. Kohlsaat, and the latter
became publisher of The Inter
Ocean and manager of its finances
and business. May 3, 1894, Mr.
Nixon repurchased the stock held
by Mr. Kohlsaat and was in com-
plete control of the paper until
July, 1897, when a majority of the
stock was sold to Mr. Charles T.
Yerkes. The change in owner-
ship was announced November
1 8, when Mr. George Wheeler
Hinman of the New York Sim
became editor-in-chief and mana-
ger of the paper. Under the new
arrangement Mr. Nixon continued
as publisher. In announcing the
change in ownership, on Novem-
ber 21, 1897, The Inter Ocean
said:
"The Inter Ocean appears
to-day for the first time under the
active management of its new
owners, and it will endeavor to
maintain the high standard long
adhered to in its columns.
"It will give special attention
to literature, politics, art, sciences
and the welfare of this city. It
will oppose the Chicago news-
paper trust, whose evils it recog-
nizes and whose abuses it has experienced. It will
advocate giving to all newspapers who desire it Asso-
ciated Press news and any other news which it will be
desirable for the people to have.
"It will take special care that this news shall be
truthful ; that facts only beneficial to the people shall
be printed, and it will oppose and expose false and
sensational articles, which are used so generally nowa-
days for catch-penny purposes.
"It will combat falsehood and hypocrisy wherever
they are exposed, whether in a newspaper, a public
office, or a pulpit. It will critcise public officials fear-
lessly and fairly, but the sancity of the home will be
recognized and private character will be respected.
"It will be loyal to the principles of the Republican
party and will fight to retain them intact against the
assaults of socialists, anarchists and their allies in the
Democratic party. It will defend at all times the sys-
REAPER BLOCK.
tern of protection and the gold standard, the bulwarks
of our prosperity. It will be an unwavering advocate
of a strong, though pacific, foreign policy, and will
never surrender a point of national honor.
"It will assist in building up Chicago and in show-
ing to the world the advantages of this coming metrop-
olis of the continent. Its columns will not be in the
service of any man or party who would use them for
selfish ends, and its policy will be straightforward, inde-
pendent and courageous, without fear or favor."
Carrying out its own idea in regard to the news
business, the management of The Inter Ocean sought
every available source for the collection of news. The
only prominent newspaper in the country that was not
in the power of the Associated Press was the New York
Sun. The managers of the Associated Press had tried
in every way to induce the management of the Sun to
join it. When, however, all their importunities failed,
SI
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
they pronounced the Sun "antagonistic" and forbade
any of its members from buying of or selling to the
Sun. The foreign news at that period was very import-
ant. To supplement the Associated Press news the
management of The Inter Ocean made arrangements
for the purchase of the foreign news of the Sun. As
soon as they learned of this action there was a great
hubbub among the officials and managers of the Asso-
ciated Press and The Inter Ocean was warned to cease
having any dealings with the Sun and to publish no
more of that paper's foreign or domestic news, threat-
ening it with deprivation of the Associated Press
Anyone at all familiar with newspaper work will know
that at that time of night and at that time of week was
he very worst period at which such acion could have
been taken. But for the fact that several wires from the
New York Sun office were placed at the service of the
paper, The Inter Ocean, on Sunday morning, must have
made a poor showing to its readers. As it was, how-
ever, the absence of the Associated Press news was
hardly missed.
At that time an Associated Press franchise in Chi-
cago was considered worth at least $100,000, and it is
doubtful if one could have been purchased at double that
DOUGLAS PARK GREENHOUSE.
news and expulsion from the association. To pre-
vent this, The Inter Ocean began a suit to enjoin the
Associated Press from carrying out its intention to cut
off The Inter Ocean's news service. The case was fully
argued before Judge Waterman of the Circuit Court.
While he refused to grant the injunction, he pronounced
the By-Law under which the officers of the Associated
Press took this action illegal and the contract based
upon it void. This decision was rendered Friday,
March 4, and, though notice of appeal was given, the
Associated Press, without any notice or warning, at
midnight, Saturday, March 5, 1898, suddenly and unex-
pectedly stopped serving news to The Inter Ocean.
sum. It was thought by many, both inside and outside
the Associated Press, that no newspaper could live with-
out that service, and, in fact, had not The Inter Ocean
had the money to buy and the energy and determination
to collect the news, the action of the Associated Press
management would have proved disastrous. As it was,
in alliance with the New York Sun, it built up a news
service for itself different from that published by the
other Chicago newspapers, and by many of the best
judges considered very superior to any of them.
Recurring to the suit, the Appellate Court affirmed
the judgment of the court below. The case was then
taken to the Supreme Court of the state, and after nearly
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
85
two years from the time of the beginning of the first
suit, the judges of the Supreme Court sent down a
unanimous decision, which sustained every position of
The Inter Ocean, declaring the By-Law under which
officers of the Associated Press acted illegal and the
contracts between the Associated Press and its members
void. It further decided that the Associated Press was
a common carrier of news and must deliver the goods
without partiality to all newspapers that desired it and
would pay for it. This decision was like a thunderbolt
in the camp of the trust newspapers, and as it affected
nearly all the important newspapers of the country, the
attention of the whole world was called to this triumph
of The Inter Ocean — a triumph, in fact, of a single
newspaper against an organization composed of all the
other papers of the country.
This decision, coming so closely on the verdict of
"Not guilty" in the case of Mr. Hinman, editor of The
Inter Ocean, who was charged by Mr. Kohlsaat, editor
of the Times-Herald, with criminal libel on him
(Kohlsaat) gave a prestige to The Inter Ocean before
the people that it had never before enjoyed. In that
case, like the case of the Associated Press, all the trust
newspapers had combined to aid Mr. Kohlsaat in secur-
ing the conviction of Mr. Hinman, and his defeat was
a practical verdict against them. The outcome of the
controversy between The Inter Ocean and the Asso-
ciated Press was the reorganization of the latter and the
payment under decision of arbitrators of $40,000 to
The Inter Ocean.
Meantime The Inter Ocean aggressively pursued
the way marked out, and added to its fame as a leader
in American thought. Always Republican and always
American, it led in the movement for national expan-
sion, and proved itself an able and forceful defender of
the administration of President McKinley during the
troublesome times of the Spanish war and the agita-
tion over the new questions resulting from that war.
Whether it was the crushing of the rebellion in the Phil-
ippines, the acceptance of Porto Rico at the hands of
her people, the settlement of the troubles in Cuba, or
defense of the conduct of the war, The Inter Ocean
stood by the administration, fighting its battles in the
name of the American people. When a conspiracy
was formed to disgrace Secretary of War Alger and
smirch the administration on account of the conduct
of the war. The Inter Ocean was one of the few metro-
politan dailies that bravely fought the combination until
General Alger was vindicated. When the country was
shocked — almost paralyzed — by the news of the hor-
rible crime, the sinking of the Maine, The Inter Ocean,
quick to see the results foreshadowed, said : "This
is the beginning of a contest, the end of which will be
the expulsion of Spain from the West Indies." Within
six months these words were proved prophetic.
When the delegates to The Hague Peace Confer-
ence of 1899 were about to vote on the arbitration
treaty The Inter Ocean called attention to the fact that
Article 27, as submitted, was a surrender of the Monroe
Doctrine and insisted that the American commissioners
should be instructed to demand such modification of
that article as would recognize the Monroe Doctrine.
Not another newspaper in America joined The Inter
Ocean in this protest against the abandonment of a
traditional American policy, but President McKinley,
seeing the force of The Inter Ocean's argument,
instructed the American delegates to insist upon the
incorporation in the treaty of a declaration which was
in effect a recognition of the Monroe Doctrine. These
instructions were carried out and the American declara-
tion was accepted by the conference.
Under date of January n, 1902. the controlling-
interest in The Inter Ocean was acquired by Mr. Hin-
man, who had been for four years its editor and man-
ager. Under the new ownership the policy announced
in 1897 was continued, the paper discussing fearlessly
all the greater questions involved in the advance of the
United States to a world power. It heartily supported
President Roosevelt in his military, naval and foreign
policies, and as usual was at the fore in the presidential
campaign of 1904. In only one case did The Inter
Ocean decline to support a candidate named by a
Republican convention, and that was in the case of
John M. Harlan. named for mayor in the spring of 1905.
It acted independently in the mayoralty campaign on
the ground that Mr. Harlan, having opposed every
Republican candidate for mayor nominated in ten
years, and having conspired to their defeat he could not
be supported by Republicans. Mr. Harlan was defeated.
In the senatorial campaign of 1902, The Inter
Ocean advocated the endorsement of Albert J. Hopkins
for United States senator by the state convention and
carried its point against the opposition of all the other
Chicago newspapers. Mr. Hopkins is to-day senator.
These are but a few illustrations of the increasing
political influence of The Inter Ocean. With that
influence, moreover came a strong growth in The Inter
Ocean's circulation, particular!}' in the city of Chicago,
where it now is double what it was in January, 1902.
CHAPTER XVII.
CHICAGO'S CHARITIES.
CHICAGO'S charities are manifold. In
the rush for wealth and power the
poor, the sick and the unfortunate
have not been neglected. The charge
might better be brought against the
city and its people that in its liberal-
ity there has been more danger of
demoralizing duplication in giving,
than in failing to give. The city's
record in this regard is as remarkable
as any feature of its wonderful munic-
ipal history.
Nor should this be wondered at, since the generous
mr.hner in which the world came to the relief of a
stricken city at the time of the great fire, gave Chicago
a lesson in charity it will never forget. Previous to that
time nothing had occurred in the city to call out any-
thing remarkable in the way of giving. The prosperity
was such, and the freedom from any great distress was
so manifest, that benevolence flowed in narrow channels
almost unobserved.
The first charity movement of importance was
started in 1857 when the Chicago Relief and Aid Society
was formed. Several other movements of the same char-
acter started shortly afterwards, which worked inde-
pendently of one another, until in 1867 they were all
combined under the parent society. By this centraliza-
tion of the work of relief in the city much good was
accomplished, for the Relief and Aid society was wholly
disconnected from all the churches, the friend of them
all, but the auxiliary of none. When the heavy blow fell
on the city a few years later it was a great thing for Chi-
cago that this organization existed. The emergency of
1871 found a charitable organization in operation which
could not have been better adapted to afford relief and
aid, had it been formed with a clear understanding in
advance of what was to happen and what would be
needed. The territory of the city had been divided into
fourteen districts, preparatory to the winter's work of
relief of poverty and destitution. This organization
with its depots and equipment in the various districts
was at once made use of in alleviating the distress of the
destitute and homeless on account of the fire. While
the fire was still burning Mayor Mason turned over to
it all the contributions for charity which began to pour
in as soon as the extent of the mighty conflagration
became known. Leading citizens of executive ability
took matters in hand, and the result was most satis-
factory. There was never any scandal or suspicion of
dishonesty, nor was red tape allowed to hinder the
emergency work. During the first four days after the
fire no less than 330 carloads of relief supplies were
received by rail from neighboring towns. These goods
came without waybills, or invoices, the railroads making
no charge for transportation. The receiving directly
from the cars and distribution to the people in need
proved of the greatest benefit in minimizing distress.
Relief was supplemented in a few weeks with aid.
About the first aid was assistance extended to poor
women in buying sewing machines to replace those
which were lost in the fire. From November 6, 1871, to
May i, 1873, the society disbursed for special relief,
$281,489.03 ; for sewing machines, $138,855.26; for rent
paid, $6,371.80; for tools bought, $10,742, a total of
$437,458.09. The number of persons who applied for
relief during that time was 16,299, and the applications
approved numbered 9,962. But these figures give no
idea of the grand total of relief and aid actually afforded.
Over 20,000 persons secured employment through the
agency of the society's free employment bureau. Hos-
pitals and dispensaries were enabled to provide for the
indigent sick who needed institutional relief, and many
thousands of patients were ministered to in their homes.
Twenty-five charitable institutions were the recipients
86
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
87
of nearly half a million dollars. The cash contribu-
tions received by this society from the American people
was $3,846,250.36; from other countries, $973,897.80;
making- in all $4,820,148.16. The society gave an
account of this great stewardship April 30, 1874, show-
ing that besides these receipts and $50,000 as a special
fund from A. T. Stewart, it had received $126,634.58
from the banks as interest on de-
posits. At the time the account
was rendered the balance on hand
was $581,328.66, the disburse-
ments having been $4,415,454.08.
Gradually the demands upon this
society lessened. When the extra-
ordinary needs incident to the fire
were over there was still a great
work to be done. That central or-
ganization continues to be a great
factor in the charitable work of Chi-
cago, but the mighty river of relief
and aid flows in innumerable chan-
nels. It is impossible to enumerate
them all, but some idea of this fea-
ture of Chicago's activity at the
present time can be presented.
Of course, it is not possible to
name, or even to accurately classify,
all the charities of the city. To
meet the obivious necessities of the
more destitute and suffering, a
very great number of institutions,
associations and specific agencies
have been originated. With the
rapid growth of the city existing
institutions and agencies soon be-
come painfully inadequate. The
older ones need enlargement and
new ones have to be formed. Mu-
nificent gifts for the purpose, more
than anybody knows, are con-
stantly coming into these charitable
treasuries.
Chicago's aid and relief work
has been greatly systematized in re-
cent years, a policy that has its
advocates and also its critics. It
assures the patrons of these organi-
zations that their benefactions will
be put where they will do the most
good, and at the same time prevent
a useless and demoralizing duplica-
tion. Among the charity organiza-
tions that are doing the most effect-
ve work are included the following :
Associated Jewish Charities of
Chicago, Austro-Hungarian Benevolent Association,
Chicago Bureau of Charities, Chicago Bureau of Jus-
tice, Chicago Medical Mission and Allied Charities, Chi-
cago Relief and Aid Society, Chicago Woman's Aid
Society, Hungarian Charity Society, Illinois Charitable
Relief Corps, Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society,
Societe Francaise de Bienfaisance de 1'Illinois, United
3 11
3 EE3 3 E33 ]
E33 3 E31
3
133 3 ID]
i OBI i
IBS] a
I IGl I
i i« a
i
i HI i
i .;, a HI i
w
ill
HEH
ll
MONADNOCK BLOCK.
88
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
Hebrew Charities, Visitation and Aid Society, Woman's
Benevolent Association.
These cover the field with many others ably and
co-operate in such a way that cases which should
naturally come to them are directed to their own race
or people, though these lines are not drawn except
where the conditions warrant it.
At the beginning of 1905 there were in Chicago
sixty-one hospitals, thirty-five dispensaries and over
sixty asylums and homes. This enumeration includes
only the larger institutions, and there are many smaller
enterprises conducted to help the needy and unfortunate
that are also doing efficient work.
The county authorities have an efficient organization
which embraces the County hospital, the Dunning insti-
tutions and the county agent's relief station on the
West Side. Through these avenues much distress is
relieved and sick and indigent persons cared for. The
county agent grants relief to those who are actually in
want, provided that they have been residents of Cook
county for at least six months. He also passes on appli-
cations for admission to the county institutions and pro-
vides transportation to the poor of other cities who may
become stranded here.
The municipal lodging house, designed to provide
shelter and food for deserving poor temporarily out of
employment was opened December 21, 1901. In order
that this shall not be an encouragement to tTie worthless,
all the lodgers, able to work, are required to give three
hours labor on the streets in return for lodging and
breakfast. Tramps and intoxicated men are not
admitted. During last year about 25,000 lodgings and
twice as many meals were furnished. The city spends
about $9,000 a year on this institution. In addition to
this the city has appropriated $12,000 to St. Vincent's
Asylum for orphans, and its emergency dispensary. In
connection with the police department an efficient am-
bulance service is maintained.
Much to the credit of the city is the provision made
for caring for the needy, dependent, abandoned,
wronged and delinquent children. Among the children's
institutions are the Chicago Foundlings' home. Crippled
Children's home, Illinois Industrial school, Chicago
Orphan asylum, St. Mary's Home for Children,
St. Joseph's Provident Orphan asylum, Hull House
Creche, Epworth Children's home, St. Charles Home
for Boys, Newsboys' home, Chicago Home for Jewish
Orphans.
No better move was ever made for the care of chil-
dren than the establishment of the juvenile court as a
branch of the county courts, for the purpose of caring
for the "dependent" and "neglected" children. Under
the act creating the court a dependent and neglected
child means any child, who for any reason, is destitute,
or homeless, or abandoned, or dependent upon the
public for support, or has not proper parental care or
guardians, or who habitually begs or receives alms, or
who is found living in any house of ill fame, or with
vicious or disreputable persons, or whose home by
reason of neglect, cruelty or depravity on the part of
the parents, guardians or the other persons in whose
care it may be, is an unfit place for such a child ; and any
child under the age of twelve years who is found ped-
dling or selling any article, or singing or playing any
musical instrument upon any street or giving any pub-
lic entertainment.
Under the term "delinquent" child is included any
child under the age of sixteen years who violates any
law of the state, or city ordinances. Its workings have
fully justified the hope its originators held of saving the
young and taking them in time before, because of
vicious environment, they have developed into hardened
law breakers.
In this connection mention should also be made
of the Humane Society, whose vigilant ministries on
behalf, not only of suffering animals, but especially of
wronged and suffering children, have been eminently
important alike in preventive and corrective ways.
So many are the charities of Chicago that there is
constant danger of demoralizing duplication. To guard
against this a bureau of associated charities was organ-
ized in 1894. Its aim and purposes are to promote such
co-operation among charitable agencies, that each shall
be permitted to do what it can do best, and that the field
of each shall exactly fit in with the fields of others, leav-
ing neither overlapping edges nor untouched need. A
system of friendly visiting, through which those who
desire to give personal service are brought into the
homes of the very poor, is maintained. The theory is
to investigate reports of distress and secure relief for
each case of need, from the proper agencies, the bureau
itself giving material relief only in emergencies ; second,
to guarantee adequate relief where relief is needed ;
third, to protect the public from imposition and fraud.
It cannot be claimed that this lofty ideal has been satis-
factorily attained, but wholesome and encouraging
progress is being made in the solution of what must be
set down as the supreme problem of municipal charity,
how to so administer it as to afford the greatest imme-
diate relief and permanent aid with the least danger
of abuse.
CHAPTER XVIII.
\ r
CHICAGO'S RAILROAD SYSTEMS
,H1CAGO is the leading railroad center
of the world.
In tonnage, mileage, equipment,
number of trains, both passenger and
freight, the great carrier systems cen-
tering in this city are unsurpassed by
any other group of roads. Chicago's
railroads control directly over 66,000
miles of track, or about a third of the
total mileage of the United States.
The lines with which they connect and
which are in a great measure dependent
upon Chicago for a large share of their tonnage would
more than double this, so that it can be said that not
less than two-thirds of all the railroad mileage in the
country is tributary to Chicago.
The Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Southern
Railway, Northern Pacific, Chesapeake & Ohio, Louis-
ville & Nashville and the trunk lines from Buffalo east,
though not running into Chicago, regard this city as
the destination and originating point of the greater
part of their traffic. Many of them have their general
traffic and operating departments located in Chicago,
and not a line of any consequence in the country but
maintains a commercial or general agency here.
The passenger and freight traffic centering here is
the heaviest in the country. From the West and North-
west are poured the immense resources which find a
gateway through Chicago to the markets of the world.
So also the great traveling public of America must pass
through the city, which was builded on the ancient
portage at the southern end of Lake Michigan. Some
idea of immensity of the tonnage handled by the rail-
roads centering here — which amounts to over 40 per
cent of the tonnage of the United States — can be
gained by considering a few of the items that enter into
this great traffic.
More than 16,000.000 barrels of flour are carried to
and from Chicago annually by the railroads. The total
rail shipments of wheat in and out of Chicago last year
were over 36,000.000 bushels, of corn upwards of 123,-
000,000 bushels, of oats 112,000,000 bushels and of rye
and barley 33,000,000 bushels. Three and a quarter
million cattle are brought to Chicago annually by the
railroads, and four and a half million sheep, and close
to eight million hogs. The greatest part of these are
slaughtered by the great packing concerns, but close to
four and a half million are shipped out alive. The amount
of dressed beef brought in and carried out by the rail-
roads from Chicago last year (1904) was 1,280,000,000
pounds. The shipments alone of hog products, exclu-
sive of those brought here by the railroads or carried
through, amounted to over a billion and a half pounds.
These are a few of the items that go toward making
up the tremendous freight tonnage originating in Chi-
cago, and finding a destination here, and which requires
no less than an average of 663 trains a day to carry.
Equally stupendous is the passenger traffic of the Chi-
cago railroads. Fifty-seven years ago, when the first
engine with a single car started on the old Galena
division of the North-Western Railroad, it consisted of
a twelve-ton engine and a twenty-foot car for passengers.
To-day the suburban, local and through line passenger
service of Chicago requires no less than an average of
1,281 trains a day in and out of the city. These carry-
upwards of 300,000 passengers, and the heaviest engines
for the fast runs weigh as high as 194 tons.
The gross earnings of the railroads centering at
Chicago rose to the high figure of $660,800,972 in 1903,
an increase of 87 per cent in ten years, though the
mileage had grown only 26 per cent. These railroads
employ in the neighborhood of three quarters of a mil-
lion men. In Chicago and Illinois alone these roads
have upwards of 86,000 men on their pay-rolls, and the
wages paid them is close to $60,000,000. The greater
share of this vast amount is distributed in Chicago and
the immediate vicinity, as the headquarters of many of
the large systems are here, and there are employed
armies of clerks.
The railroads in the Chicago Terminal Association
have about 700 miles of main tracks in the citv limits.
89
90
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Switch tracks and auxiliary tracks would bring this
mileage in Chicago proper to the neighborhood of 2,000
miles. This network of steel has in it 7,000 switches,
7,200 frogs and 2,500 signal lights.
No less than 1,944 trains a day enter and leave Chi-
cago. Of these 1,281 are passenger and 663 freight
trains. The development of the suburban service has
been great since the World's fair. Following is a table
of the passenger trains running in and out of Chicago
daily, Sundays excepted :
Through.
"«
0
a
Suburban,
*rt
O
Atchison Topeka •% Santa Fe
10
3
o
13
Baltimore & Ohio
6
2
0
8
Chicago & Alton
10
8
0
18
Chicago & Kastern Illinois.
12
4
2
18
Chicago & Erie
7
6
2
15
Chicago & North-Western
64
208
316
Chicago & Western Indiana
o
o
16
16
Chicago Burlington & Quincy
28
12
96
136
6
3
o
9
Chicago Milwaukee & St. Paul
13
7°
30
113
Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville
13
o
o
13
Chicago Rock Island & Pacific
12
14
72
98
Chicago Terminal Transfer
O
o
8
8
C., C., C. & St. L. (Big Four)
IO
o
o
10'
Grand Trunk
8
2
IO
20
Illinois Central
18
o
248
266
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
16
6
54
76
Michigan Central
I s
6
o
21
New York, Chicago & St. Louis
6
o
o
6
Niagara Falls Short Line
6
2
o
8
Pere Marquette. ...
8
o
o
8
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis.
8
IO
4
6
0
26
12
42
Wabash
16
3
o
ig
Wisconsin Central . ...
8
o
12
Totals ...
_>s<>
223
772
1281
The average number of freight trains operated by
the Chicago roads daily are as follows :
Freight Trains.
Out.
In.
Total.
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
6
6
12
Baltimore & Ohio
1 1
9
20
Chicago & Alton „
10
13
23
Chicago & Eastern Illinois
15
15
30
Chicago &*Erie ...
IO
21
Chicago & North-Western
CO
4S
95
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
ig
2O
39
Chicago Great Western . .
8
7
I c
Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul
33
36
69
Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville
5
5
IO
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. . . ...
1 1
ig
30
Chicago Terminal Transfer
12
13
25
C., C., C. & St. L. (Big Four)
2
2
Grand Trunk
13
12
25
Illinois Central
a I
3.1
62
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern
17
17
34
Michigan Central ...
12
New York, Chicago & St. Louis
12
12
24
Pere Marquette
5
5
IO
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis
ia
IO
23
Pittsburg, Ft. Wayne & Chicago
13
12
25
Wabash
1C
12
27
Wisconsin Central
8
8
16
Totals
332
331
663
The total receipts by rail of flour and grain by the
Chicago roads for 1904 were as follows:
Flour, barrels 8,877,105
Wheat, bushels 23,954,747
Corn, bushels 100,083,923
Oats, bushels 72,974,815
Rye, bushels 2'379>3°7
Barley, bushels 25,316,917
The total shipments by rail of flour and grain by the
Chicago roads for 1904 were as follows:
Flour, barrels 6,564,533
Wheat, bushels 12,330,030
Corn, bushels 23,386,707
Oats, bushels 39,662,834
Rye, bushels 1.330,273
Barley, bushels 4,718,875
The total receipts by rail of leading commodities
for the year 1904 at Chicago follow:
Cattle 3,259,185
Sheep 4,504,630
Live and dressed hogs 7,806,565
Dressed beef, pounds 208,204,901
Lard, pounds 54,549,592
Barreled pork, barrels 10,542
Other meats, pounds 200,221,000
Hides, pounds 165,700,650
Wool, pounds 72,673,060
Potatoes, bushels 9,327,220
Hay, tons 251,748
Lumber, thousand feet 1,274,626
Shingles, thousand 431,454
Cheese, pounds 90,937,788
Butter, pounds 249,024,146
Eggs, cases 30 dozen 3,1 13,858
Timothy seed, pounds 61,989,872
Clover seed, pounds 7,920,245
Flaxseed, bushels 1,869,913
Other grass seeds, pounds. . . 18,812,780
Broomcorn, pounds 19,456,467
Canned meats, cases 12,381
Beef, packages 58,870
Salt, barrels 445,040
Tallow, pounds 19,977,491
Stearine, pounds 1,028,793
Oatmeal, barrels 234,864
Malt, bushels 1,797,177
Hops, pounds 8,856,026
Millstuffs, pounds 503,103,658
Oil cake, pounds 20,480,237
Coal, tons estimated 10,000,000
The total shipments by rail of leading commodities
for the year 1904 at Chicago follow:
Cattle i ,326,332
Sheep 1,362,270
Live and dressed hogs 1,746,867
Dressed beef, pounds 1,072,156,300
Lard, pounds 336,546,963
Barreled pork, barrels 106,721
Other meats (hog), pounds. .652,546,606
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
91
Hides, pounds 194,555,251
Wool, pounds 64,465,859
Potatoes, bushels 2,440,105
Hay, tons 1 1 ,660
Lumber, thousand feet 820,956
Shingles, thousand 434,195
Cheese, pounds 66,148,937
Butter, pounds 249,359,694
Eggs, cases 30 dozen 1,685,577
Timothy seed, pounds 24,754,145
Clover seed, pounds 6,223,528
Flaxseed, bushels 454,081
Other grass seeds, pounds . . . 36,476,203
Broomcorn, pounds 15,971,629
Canned meats, cases 1,664,737
Beef, packages '. . 95,839
Salt, barrels 372,408
Tallow, pounds 27,948,627
Stearine, pounds 9,030,906 -
Oatmeal, barrels 12,587
Malt, bushels 9-555, 5 18
Hops, pounds 7,410,854
Millstuffs, pounds 444,777,783
Oil cake, pounds 69.869,916
Coal, tons estimated 1,600,000
Such in brief is the immensity of the railroad interests
centering in Chicago at the beginning of the city's sec-
ond century. It grew from small beginnings, the
pioneer days of Chicago and Illinois railroading being
fraught with many discouragements and hardships.
The first railroad legislation in Illinois, passed in
1831, had for its real purpose the facilitating of trade
between Southwestern Illinois and St. Louis. It was
five years later before the first railway charter was
granted in the interest of Chicago. That pioneer road
was the Galena & Chicago Union. Its charter was
issued January 16, 1836, and the name indicates the
two terminal points. It will be observed that Galena
comes before Chicago, and that was right. It was then
the more important town of the two.
The incorporators were clothed with large powers.
They had only to ask and they would receive. They
could use animal or steam power, whichever they pre-
ferred, and could be three years in getting to work. The
capital stock was placed at $100,000, with power to add
a cipher. The terminal point in Chicago was fixed at
the south end of Dearborn avenue. A little work was
done, but not much, just enough to vitalize the charter.
Ten years passed before the enterprise was fairly placed
on a practicable basis. From that time on it went ahead
prosperously, developing into the Chicago & North-
Western system, with its network of lines. It could not
have a more appropriate name than it now bears, for it
brings the Northwest and Chicago into close relation-
ship. Galena is still afforded an outlet by this route, but
the road was slow in reaching there. By 1850 it had
only got as far west as Elgin. Only two days after the
charter of the Galena & Chicago Union was granted the
Legislature granted a charter for a railroad between
GARFIELD PARK.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Cairo and Peru. It was a project making rail connec-
tion subsidiary to water transportation. A link was
supposed to be needed between the point where the
Ohio River empties into the Mississippi, and the lower
end of the Illinois and Michigan canal. Nothing came
of that charter, although the route was the same, so far
as it went, as that of the Illinois Central Railroad.
Practically the era of railroads began about the time
that the Mexican war had expanded our national domain
to the Pacific Ocean. The idea of depending on canals
was very nearly abandoned by that time. It is a remark-
able, but little remarked, fact, that hardly had this
country become continental in area, reaching from ocean
to ocean, before the idea of a railroad from Lake Mich-
railroad from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Ocean, and
Senator Douglas was also clearly right in giving a
subsidy for the Illinois Central precedence over a subsidy
for a cross-continent line.
With that hard sense in legislation which made him
a great power in Congress, Mr. Douglas combined three
states in his project, Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama.
His bill was for a right of way and land subidy for a
railroad from Chicago to Mobile. In the interest of
Iowa it was amended to include a branch "to the Missis-
sippi River opposite Dubuque." This bill was introduced
in 1848 and became a law in 1850. That was the begin-
ning of the land grant railway system which has done
much to develop the \Vest and thus to build up Chicago.
DOUGLAS PARK VIEWS.
igan to the Pacific, that is, from Chicago to San Fran-
cisco, took formal but not immediately tangible form.
Sidney Breese. then United States senator from Illinois,
urged such a project and the Legislature of Illinois
indorsed it. But Breese's colleague. Stephen A. Doug-
las, while not opposed to the Pacific project, took
greater interest in securing a north and south railroad
the entire length of Illinois. That was the more imme-
diate demand, especially from the standpoint of the state.
Senator Breese, afterward Judge Breese, lived to see
his idea carried out, but he took no part in its execution,
and before it was put into operation several east and
west railroads having Chicago as their eastern terminus
had been constructed ; and the Missouri River, not Lake
Michigan, had come to be regarded the terminal line on
the east. But the Illinois Legislature of 1847 was clearly
right in heartily concurring in the idea of a grand Pacific
The total grant in this state was 2.595.000 acres, most of
it the best of agricultural land.
The Legislature of Illinois repealed the inoperative
act of 1836, incorporating the Illinois Central Railroad
Company, and complied with the provisions of the
congressional grant, so far as the same related to this
state, using the name of Illinois Central. Right here
comes in the part played by the state debt, incurred in
large part in the construction of the Illinois and Michi-
gan Canal. The holders of the state bonds conceived
the idea of utilizing the Illinois Central project to make
sure that the state should be in a condition to meet the
interest on those on its debt. They secured, through
the influence at Springfield of their attorney. Robert
Rantoul, one of the great New England lawyers of the
day, a provision to the effect that in lieu of all other tax-
ation the company should pay into the state treasury
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
seven per cent of its gross earnings. This was a good
arrangement for the state also, and is now made per-
petual by constitutional guarantee.
The Illinois Central was completed in the summer
of 1 854. Then for the first time and for all time Chicago
became the veritable metropolis of Illinois, affording the
surplus products of the state its entire length their best
outlet to the populous East and the Atlantic seaboard.
From this time on Chicago had no occasion to be at
all anxious about its future. The railway system of the
West was compelled by self-interest to literally "make
tracks" for this city. The eastern trunk lines, the Michi-
gan Central and Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, were
obliged to come here with and for their business. New
Buffalo, Fort Wayne and such points to the east were
obliged to content themselves with being way stations.
When the great fire of 1871 came it was the network
of railroads centering in this focal point which made the
rebuilding of the city inevitable. If every structure in
the city had been leveled to an ash heap it would have
been the same. Not only was the Chicago river here
to renew its invitation to lake commerce, but the rail-
roads were intact. Their depots only were gone, and
not all of them.
Important as Chicago had become at the time of the
fire as a railway center, it may be said to have entered
upon a new railway era with 1872. Its mileage was
about doubled in a decade, and from the Grand Trunk
on the north to the Baltimore & Ohio on the south the
necessity of reaching this city was recognized. Nor is
it too much to say that the entire Western system of
railroads, including Mexico and Canada, center directly
or indirectly in Chicago.
In order to give further clearness to the conception
of Chicago as a railway center there is herewith
appended a table presenting the more important general
facts about the railway systems which have in this city
a common meeting-place.
Chicago & North-Western Railway Company. Chi-
cago's Pioneer Railway System. The growth of Chi-
cago, unprecedented as it has been, has not been greater
than the expansion of its first line of railway. In 1848
Chicago boasted of only ten miles of rail, extending
west from Wells and Kinzie streets, the present site of
the Chicago & North-Western passenger station, to the
Des Plaines River. This ten miles of track was destined
to become the nucleus of a system of more than 9,000
miles of railway, with wharves, elevators, ware-
houses and yards with which to care for an immense
freight traffic.
Three hundred passenger trains arrive and depart
daily from its \Vells street station, serving more than
1,700 western communities, with a tributary population
of 8,000,000 people.
Probably no feature has done so much towards pro-
moting the wonderful growth of Chicago since its settle-
ment in 1 803 as the development of the city's transpor-
tation facilities to the West and Northwest. It was
thoroughly typical of the spirit that has made possible
the Chicago of to-day, and our western country in gen-
eral, that only twenty months after the territory east of
the Mississippi River had been ceded to the United
States by the Indian tribes, citizens of the active little
town on Lake Michigan secured a charter for the build-
ing of what has now developed into the great Chicago
& North-Western Railway System.
Thus the history of this pioneer railway of the West
is closely linked with the history of the city with which
it has grown and developed, and the interests of the two
have intermingled as the years have passed.
Chicago's fame and Chicago's wealth have both
depended largely upon her importance as a grain and
live stock market, and the first train into Chicago on
what is now the North-Western Line holds the dis-
RAILROADS
Mileage.
Capitaliza-
tion.
Passengers
Carried.
Freight
Carried
(Tons).
Passenger
Earnings.
Freight
Karnings.
Gross.
Net.
Atchison, Topeka A Santa Ke...
8,301
$445.631.580
7,622.012
13.195.597
$15,433.774
$47,763,653
$68,171,200
$24.033.031
lialtimore A Ohio
3 987
422 779 227
15,403061
43 347 193
13.146.449
48.617,103
65071.081
20,136707
Chicago, Kurlington A Quincy
8821
281 854 200
1 4 098 053
20 634 024
14 494 573
44 651 997
65 228 192
20 649 250
Chicago and Alton
915
106 086 800
3 227,611
6 121 333
3.351,943
7,445.877
1 1 ,425 &53
3.561 253
Chicago A: Kastern Illinois
758
44 049 136
4 159 682
9 4J5 731
1 ,224 031
7 203 681
8 664,043
3 327 651
Chicago A North-Western
7.412
223.788.483
21,395,312
28 128 810
13.027,708
37,254,539
53.334.633
16.107.524
Chicago Great Western
874
82 040 845
1 938340
2825 601
1,780 151
5 811 059
8 022.674
1,902632
592
29 942 000
1 400 026
2 965 945
1 239 101
3 735 029
5300623
1 884 454
Chicago. Milwaukee A St. Paul
6.906
224,305 800
9 752 419
21 267370
9,661 633
35.081.759
48 330,334
17.161,320
Chicago, Rock Island A Pacific
7 205
247 047 600
11 536 847
13567 817
11,697 033
31 167 006
44 969 491
17 169014
Chicago A Western Indiana . .. ....
113
22 895 060
Polk St.
Chicago Terminal Transfer
268
47 392 234
61 794
1 527 016
1,588 765
93201
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago A St. Louis ...
2,287
100.657.801)
6.115443
12,510586
6.378 877
13.053,864
21,069 954
4.339,728
Erie
2315
368065561
20395440
29 835 105
8 077 464
32 522.742
43.005213
12 742515
3562
340 144 31°
9 099 567
13 484 056
7 871 668
18 879 156
26 750 824
8 315 293
Illinois Central ...
4 374
24U.712.275
22.563613
22420814
9,554.743
31 .692 575
46,831,136
12.095. 153
Lake Shore A Michigan Southern
1 454
141 324 000
6 176 269
26 846 89 1
7 095 790
24 185 294
35 161 053
12 484 008
Michigan Central
1 653
79 664 Ol'O
3 657 010
13 55! 195
4 818 763
15 273 012
21 492 944
3 340 278
New York. Chicago A St Louis
523
49 425 000
895568
5 14<" 411
1 336 834
7 152 631
8 645 374
2 223.231
Pere Marquette
1 941
71 773 6*>
3 227 611
6 121 333
3 351 943
7 44o 877
1 1 425 853
3 561 253
Pitt^burg, Ft. Wavne & Chicago
1.526
5 868 722
27485 171
36.390.582
10,347.220
Pittsburg, Cincinnati Chicago A St Louis
1 423
76 095 400
10 415 940
30 940 272
6 799 839
19 148 917
28 532 475
7,166 811
\Vabash
2517
162,513.000
6.183,474
6 698995
7 045 525
14 064 657
23.023,627
4.589.959
Wisconsin Central.. .
977
54.770.980
1,159.904
3.944.020
1.405.783
4.765.605
6.466.177
1.871,525
04
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
tinction of having brought the first rail shipment of
grain to the city. To-day these pioneer shipments
have grown until $350,000,000 worth of live stock
reaches the Chicago market each year, and the Chi-
cago & North-\Yestern alone brings to the city a
quarter billion bushels of grain annually.
It was the North-Western Line which, pushing its
rails into Council Bluffs in 1867, hastened the building
of the Pacific railways and the completion of all-rail
connection between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and it
markets of the central West, the Rocky Mountain region
and the Pacific Coast.
The famous "Overland Limited" and other daily
trans-continental trains stand as splendid examples of
long-distance travel, travel, too, that is surrounded by
luxuries and comforts the western traveler of thirty
years ago could not have imagined.
Colorado, not so long ago considered to be in the
extreme far West and visited by comparatively few
eastern people, is now reached by the North-Western
CHICAGO & NORTH-WESTERN DEPOT.
has now gained national note as being "the only double-
track railway between Chicago and the Missouri River."
Over this great double-track, block system line
between Chicago and Council Bluffs, long trains of live
stock and grain, of California fruits, and of silks, teas
and spices from the far East move in steady lines east-
ward; while in the opposite direction the products of
every branch of commercial activity are carried to the
markets of Asiatic Russia, Japan, China, the Philippines
and Australia, Alaska and Hawaii, and to the nearer
Line and its connections in a day and a night with
two fast through trains to Denver daily.
Nor are the activities of the North-Western Line
confined to this east and west movement. To the
northward it is the pioneer line and direct route to the
hardwood country and iron and copper mines of
northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michi-
gan, furnishing means of transportation for the enor-
mous products of this rich region.
St. Paul and Minneapolis, twin gateways to the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Northwest, are closely linked to Chicago with four fast
trains daily in each direction.
To Duluth and Superior there are two daily trains,
The "Duluth-Superior Limited," electric-lighted
become general manager of the Pullman Palace Car
Company.
In 1872 he went to the Chicago & North- Western
Railway as general superintendent and has remained
,„<"• •""'
„>* _. _ <c
"' V7?X^>,
INDICATES OOUBU TRACK
< °°*" * ^>7 *° #s A v
*^
throughout, affords to passengers to the head-of-the-
lakes all the comforts and convenience of modern high-
class travel.
Between Chicago and Milwaukee the North-
Western Line operates twenty-one trains a day over
what is practically a six-track line along the beautiful
shore of Lake Michigan, the "North Shore Special,"
the train of green and gold, being the most handsomely
equipped train ever placed in service to and from the
Cream City.
This year thousands have visited the Lewis & Clark
Centennial Exposition at Portland, Oregon, traveling
westward from Chicago over its rails, and thousands
more find its train service a convenient means of travel
to and fro between Chicago and Colorado, Utah, Cali-
fornia and the Pacific Northwest, to the Black Hills, the
Yellowstone National Park, Alaska, and to the hun-
dreds of summer resorts and hunting and fishing
grounds of Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
Marvin Hughitt's meteoric career has ever been up
and onward. In his vocabulary there has never been
such a word as "failure." Marvin Hughitt was born
at Seneca, New York, in 1836. He entered the railway
service as superintendent of telegraph and trainmaster
of the St. Louis, Alton & Chicago road (now Chicago
& Alton).
From 1862 to 1864 he was superintendent of the
southern division of the Illinois Central Railroad and
was afterward general superintendent of that road until
1870, when he became connected with the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Company as assistant general
manager. He relinquished his position in 1871 to
with that company ever since, serving from 1876 to
1880 as general manager, from 1880 to 1887 as vice-
president and general manager and from 1887 to the
present time as president of the company.
No better illustration of the marked ability of Mr.
Hughitt can be found than his wonderful record of
MARVIN HUGHITT.
forty-eight years of railroad work. Despite his assidu-
ous attention to work, Mr. Hughitt has found time to
accumulate a particularly fine library. His palatial
residence on Prairie avenue is one of the show
of that fine boulevard.
Mr. Hughitt is a member of the Chicago and Union
League clubs. His summer home is at Lake Forest.
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company.
The beginning of the present Chicago, Milwaukee
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
places
Railroad in 1863, and the La Crosse division of the
present company in 1866. In April, 1852, the La Crosse
& Milwaukee Railroad Company was incorporated, and
in June, 1853, by a consolidation of two other railroad
charters, the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green Bay
Railroad Company was formed, and work begun on the
& St. Paul Railway Company dates from 1849, when
the Milwaukee & Mississippi Company was formed for
the purpose of connecting that city by rail with the
Mississippi. In April, 1857, the road was completed
to Prairie du Chien, but two years later, the company
being unable to pay its interest, a mortgage sale was
ordered, and a new company, which had been chartered
by the Legislature in 1860, under the name of the Mil-
waukee & Prairie du Chien Railway Company, pur-
chased the property January 21, 1861. This company
operated the road until 1866, when it was absorbed by
the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company.
The Milwaukee & Watertown Railroad, now part of
the La Crosse division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railway, was incorporated in March, 1851, and by
the latter part of 1856 trains were running from Mil-
waukee to Columbus. After going through a variety
of changes the road became the Milwaukee & St. Paul
line from Milwaukee toward Fond du Lac. Two years
later the La Crosse & Milwaukee Railroad Company
was consolidated with the Milwaukee, Fond du Lac &
Green Bay Railroad Company, assuming the name of
the latter company, and after a series of litigations the
Milwaukee & St. Paul Company gained final possession,
by purchase, of the property in 1867. This same com-
pany also acquired the Milwaukee & Horicon road by
purchase in 1863.
The present Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway
Company grew out of the organization formed May 5,
1863, for the purpose of purchasing all the roads thus
far mentioned, but the word "Chicago" was not prefixed
until February. 1874, the line between Milwaukee and
Chicago having been constructed during the previous
year. The policy of the new management was one of
expansion, and from 1875 to 1880 several small roads
were either leased or purchased, among them the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
97
Dubuque & Southwestern Railroad, in Iowa; the Min-
nesota Midland Railway Company, in Minnesota ; the
Madison & Portage Railroad, Viroqua Railway Com-
pany, and Oshkosh & Mississippi Railroad Company,
all of Wisconsin. During 1880 eight roads, with a total
of 1,195 miles, were added to the system, which was
further increased during the year by the construction
of 349 miles of branches and extensions. In 1881, 442
miles of road were added ; in 1882 the system was further
increased by 303 miles; in 1883; by 240 miles; in 1884,
by 44 miles, thus making a total on January i, 1885, of
4,760 miles of road under operation by this company.
Since 1885, further lines have been leased or built, until
there are now operated 7,085 miles of thoroughly-
equipped road in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa,
Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri and
the upper peninsula of Michigan.
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Com-
pany has been the foremost line in the West in adopting
Limited," which leaves Chicago every night at 6:30,
reaching St. Paul and Minneapolis early the following
morning, is well entitled to the claim made for it, that
it is the only perfect train in the world.
Illinois Central Railroad. As will be seen from the
accompanying map, the lines of the Illinois Central
Railroad extend south from Chicago to St. Louis, to
Evansville, and to Memphis and New Orleans; south
from St. Louis and Louisville and Cincinnati to Mem-
phis and New Orleans; and from Chicago west to
Council Bluffs and Omaha, to Sioux City and to Sioux
Falls. The total mileage of this great railroad, includ-
ing that of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Railroad
from Memphis to New Orleans, was 5,584 miles at the
close of the last fiscal year, June 30, 1905.
The material, or tangible, beginning of the Illinois
Central may be said to have been in the years 1855 and
1856, at which time its original 706 miles were com-
ILLINOIS CENTRAL DEPOT.
every possible appliance for the safety and comfort of
its passengers, including an absolute block system,
Westinghouse train signals, steam heat, electric light,
vestibuled and compartment cars. Its train service is
unsurpassed, and its celebrated train, "The Pioneer
7
pleted and opened between Dunleith, now East
Dubuque, and Cairo, and between Chicago and Cen-
tralia.
Its first passenger station in Chicago was at Twelfth
street, on a section of the grounds now occupied by
98
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
J^a*^fc<r5w^vsB^P*
^^\^Kk:3^^^fe
rT*fc*W / •£*%. ColumBlfc' X.
^«S\>/V7JBC
s^:
ONSTRUCTION
ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
99
its present "Central Station" located between Park
Row and Twelfth street on the Lake Front. Early
in its development the line was extended to the foot of
Lake street over trestle-work constructed for the pur-
pose, thus crossing the waters of the lake encroaching
on what is now Michigan avenue. Later, on the fill-
ing in of this water stretch by the city and the rail-
road company, the trestle-work disappeared. A few
years ago when the Illinois Central depressed its tracks
between Park Row and Van Buren street this trestle-
work was uncovered. At the new terminus on Lake
street, what was in its day a fine stone station, was
erected, and became ultimately one of the last relics
of Chicago's great fire. In 1893 it was abandoned
and the present Central Station occupied as the pas-
senger terminal for through trains.
During the intervening years, between 1856 and the
present day, the Illinois Central has contributed its
share towards the development of the Mississippi Val-
ley and the City of Chicago. By dikes, piers and
breakwaters the company has for fifty years protected
the City of Chicago against the encroachment of Lake
Michigan, and has spent in so doing over three million
dollars of money. It was a large factor in making the
World's Fair of 1893 possible, it being the first rail-
road in the city to elevate its tracks. It made possible,
by filling and reconstruction, the Lake Front Park
from an unsightly loafing ground to the present attract-
ive Logan Park along Michigan avenue, and will build
the inner wall marking the boundary of the new park
along the Lake Front which is being so rapidly filled in.
That it is an important factor in the tax situation of
the City of Chicago will be seen from the following
facts: The charter of the Illinois Central Railroad
Company reserves for the State of Illinois, in lieu of
taxes, seven per cent of the gross receipts of the 706
miles of railroad originally built under the charter.
The sum so paid for the year ending June 30, 1903,
was the largest ever turned into the state treasury, it
having been $1,026,650.84. This, if capitalized at
three and one-half per cent would give $29,332,880 as
representing the proprietary interest of the State of
Illinois in the Illinois Central Railroad The City of
Chicago pays rather more than one-third of the total
taxes of the State of Illinois. From these two facts it
will be apparent that the direct money interest of Chi-
caeo in the Illinois Central Railroad is considerable.
o
In short, valuable as are the company's lands and
buildings to Chicago, the saving in taxation to the city
is very largely in excess of what would be paid by direct
taxes, and largely in excess of what is paid by any of
its competitors.
In line with the early history of the road within
the City of Chicago, it should not be forgotten to
mention the extraordinary development in connection
with its suburban service. The Illinois Central's first
suburban train was run out of Chicago June i, 1856,
to a point just south of Hyde Park. At first there were
but three trains a day in each direction, increasing in
number as circumstances warranted. They were run,
however, up to 1864 at a loss to the company, and it is
questionable whether the latter received any profit
from its suburban service for many years after that
date. Beginning about 1880, however, by the inaugu-
ration of special equipment, and the addition of two
tracks for the exclusive use of the suburban trains, an
era of prosperity began for this service which has con-
tinued ever since. To-day it runs 122 trains, includ-
ing express and local, in each direction between Ran-
dolph street and suburban points, not counting its
suburban service west. Another era in this suburban
train development dates from the World's Fair of 1893,
at which time the special service designed for that occa-
sion was put in effect. Between May i and October
31, the exposition period, 29,528,435 passengers were
carried on the suburban trains of the Illinois Central
without the loss of a life. In addition, out of this
Columbian Exposition service was developed the present
express suburban service, operated on double tracks
independent of the double tracks assigned to the local
suburban service, making four tracks in all for the
suburban business.
In conclusion it should not be forgotten that the
Illinois Central, with its fast through passenger and
its fast manifest freight service, is a most important
factor in linking Chicago to the South and West.
Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company.
Although chartered as recently as June 4, 1897, the
history of this property dates from 1867, wrhen the old
La Salle & Chicago Railroad Company was granted the
power by the Legislature to construct a line of road
between the points named in its title. No determined
effort was made to construct the line until 1885, when
parties secured an interest in the organization with a
view of constructing the line and employing it as a link
in a through route from Chicago to the Northwest.
The Chicago & Great Western Railroad Company was
the title under which operations were continued until
1890, when the Chicago & Northern Pacific Railroad
Company, organized the previous year, purchased and
consolidated under one management the Chicago &
Great Western Railroad Company, the Chicago, Harlem
& Batavia Railway Company and the Bridgeport &
South Chicago Railroad Company, together with the
property on which is located the Grand Central Passen-
ger Station in Chicago. The road was operated as the
Chicago & Northern Pacific Railroad Company until
1897, when the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad
Company, chartered on June 4 of that year, acquired.
100
•////• CITY OF CHICAGO.
through sale under foreclosure, all the property owned
by this road, and subsequently also acquired the prop-
erty of the Chicago & Calumet Terminal Railway Com-
pany, a consolidation, brought about in 1888. of the
Calumet River, Hammond & Lake Michigan and Chi-
cago & Calumet Terminal Railroad companies. These,
in brief, have been the principal steps leading up to the
formation of the most extensive terminal company oper-
ating in and about Chicago.
The Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company
Suburban Railroad. The Chicago Terminal Transfer
Railroad Company has direct connection, by means
of its 244.5 miles of track, with every railroad enter-
ing Chicago, and it thus affords a rapid transfer of
freight between different lines. Starting from South
Chicago, its belt line runs through Whiting, Indiana,
and thence in a western and northwestern direction
to McCook, Illinois, thus reaching the leading indus-
tries and manufacturing plants located at South
Chicago, Whiting, East Chicago, Hammond, Blue
GRAND CENTRAL PASSENGER STATION.
is a company formed to acquire and lease facilities to
other roads and to transact a local suburban and switch-
ing business. The property of the company consists
of passenger and freight terminals in the business center
of the city, lines of railway leading thereto, and a belt
line about the city, just outside the corporate limits.
At the present time the terminals of this company are
used by the Chicago • Great \Yestern Railway Company.
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company and Pere Mar-
quette system. It also leases a considerable trackage
to the Chicago Junction Railway Company, \\~abash and
Island, Harvey, Thornton, Chicago Heights, Chicago
Ridge, Chappell and McCook. It also has connections
with the industries at La Grange, Broadview, Bellewoocl,
Melrose and Franklin Park. An extension from the
latter point to Mayfair is now under construction, and
when that is completed it will afford direct connections
outside corporate limits with all the railroads centering
in the city. The amount of traffic originating on this
railroad and delivered daily to the railroads by this com-
pany is very large. By its facilities for prompt transfer,
its motive power and equipment it has attained a front
THE CITY 01- CHICAGO.
101
rank in its particular field among the roads dependent
upon it.
From Blue Island the Chicago Terminal Transfer
Railroad Company has a line running- directly north into
the city to Western avenue and West Twelfth street,
and from thence to the Grand Central Passenger Sta-
tion, at Harrison and Fifth avenue, thus affording a
second connection with many of the trunk lines within
the city limits.
When it is considered that the railroads entering Chi-
cago are by far the greatest factor in the city's trade
and commerce, the importance of the road under con-
sideration, with its facilities of track, terminals, connec-
tions, etc., is the more easily understood. Besides oper-
ating nearly 250 miles of track, this company also owns
over 760 acres of real estate in and adjacent to the city,
of which more than 50 acres are in the center of the
business portion. It owns about 7,500 feet of frontage
on the Chicago river, and also the Grand Central Pas-
senger Station in the heart of the city. The latter, which
covers nearly four acres of ground, is one of the best
specimens of the highest type of modern architecture
to be found in the United States, and it is classed among
the great buildings which have made Chicago famous.
Constructed of pressed brick and Connecticut brown-
stone, it is surmounted by a tower, 242 feet high above
the foundation, 27 feet square, and weighing 6,000
tons. This tower contains the second largest clock
in the United States, having four dials, each 13^ feet in
diameter. The hours are struck by a hammer, weighing
250 pounds, on a 5^2-ton bell. The building, which was
opened to the public on Monday, December 8, 1890, has
a frontage on Harrison street of 228 feet and of 482 feet
on Fifth avenue. The main waiting-room, situated on
the ground floor, is 267 feet long, 71 feet wide, and with
a ceiling 25 feet high. A ladies' parlor, 32x40 feet,
adjoins the same. To enter trains, passengers do not
have to climb stairs, but enter the train-shed directly
from the waiting-room. Another feature of its con-
struction worthy of special notice, is the carriage court,
146x167 feet, by which carriages, buses and automo-
biles in large numbers at once can enter and discharge
their passengers at the entrance to the waiting-room and
train-shed. A dining-room, 56x73 feet, is located on the
second floor, and the remainder of the upper floors is
devoted to offices, including the general offices of the
Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company.
A noteworthy feature, which should be mentioned in
regard to this company, is the commanding position
which it occupies with respect to freight terminal facili-
ties, as well as passenger accommodations. Its tracks
penetrate the heart of the manufacturing district of Chi-
cago, and the growth of its switching business,
so-called, has been phenomenal, consequent upon the
increase in the number and extent of such manufactories.
Its tenant lines have benefited in this regard, they enjoy-
ing the right to handle the traffic with their own engines
to and from tracks to industries tributary to the
main tracks, which they have the use of under their
respective leases. But other railroads entering Chicago,
alive to the situation in this regard, have not been slow
to appreciate the advantage which follows direct con-
nection with the manufacturing interests spoken of;
hence there is a constant demand from what may be
termed outside railroads for branch freight terminal
facilities in the district referred to, and the day is not
far distant when the larger proportion of the railroads
reaching Chicago will of necessity have established
JOHN NICHOLSON FAITHORN.
facilities for the receipt and delivery of freight on the
rails of this terminal company.
The officers of this company are : John N. Faithorn,
president and general manager ; S. L. Prest, comp-
troller; H. H. Hall, treasurer; W. B. Barr, general
freight agent; J. B. Barton, general attorney; E. R.
Knowlton, superintendent.
John Nicholson Faithorn, president and genera!
manager of the Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad,
was born at London, England, March 21, 1852. After
receiving a common school education, and spending
three years in the employ of the London and St.
Katharine Dock Company, he embarked for the United
States when twenty years of age.
In February, 1873. the year following his arrival
here, he received his first experience in railroading in the
freight department of the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
102
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
He was successively clerk, general freight agent's secre-
tary and chief clerk in the general office of the company.
Mr. Faithorn left his position with the Chicago
& Alton in September, 1882, to become auditor of the
Southwestern Railway association. In May, 1885, he
made another change, accepting the position of com-
missioner of the Western Freight Association and
Northwestern Freight Association.
From April i, 1887, to October, 1890, he was suc-
cessively commissioner of the Western & Northwestern
Railway Freight Bureau, and chairman of the Western
Freight Association. The following two years, from
October, 1890, to December, 1892, he was chairman of
the Southwestern Railway & Steamship Association and
commissioner of the Western Freight Association at St.
Louis, Missouri. From January i, 1893, until December
i, 1898, Mr. Faithorn was vice-president and general
manager of Street's Western Stable Car Company at
Chicago. In 1895 and 1896, he was also general mana-
ger of the Wisconsin & Michigan Railway. In Decem-
ber, 1898, he was made president and general manager
o'f the St. Louis, Peoria & Northern Railway. August
i, 1889, he became president and general manager of
the Chicago Terminal Railroad. He still holds this
position.
Twenty years after Mr. Faithorn left the employ of
the Chicago & Alton Railway he returned to the com-
pany in July, 1902, as vice-president. He held this last
position until December, 1904, along with his present
position, as president and general manager of the Chi-
cago Terminal Transfer Railway.
Mr. Faithorn is a member of the Chicago Club, the
Chicago Athletic Association and the Engineers' Club
of New York.
The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad is the
great coal road of the West. How many people among
the city's 2,000,000 inhabitants know that it is entitled
to be called "the road that keeps Chicago warm"?
Few, indeed, probably, yet it is a fact that this line
with its splendidly ballasted main stem and branches
traversing the rich bituminous mining sections of Illi-
nois, Indiana and Missouri, brings into the great city
by the lake over five-eighths of its entire soft coal sup-
ply. Thus, after forty years, the original purpose in
building the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad as a
coal-carrying road has never been lost to sight, but has
steadily developed by wise management into the busi-
ness of to-day — an ample vindication of the courage
and judgment of its projectors and backers of more than
a generation ago.
But, remarkable as the growth of this road has been
on its freight-carrying side, the progress made in the
development of its passenger traffic is even more note-
worthy, because it has been a growth of comparatively
recent years, and the obstacles have been more difficult
to overcome. All the more honor and credit then
to the men whose executive skill and trained ability
have produced these results. To-day the general pas-
senger agent, from his headquarters in the magnificent
new $1,000,000 La Salle Street Station, Chicago, directs
a passenger service that is growing by leaps and bounds.
Since the formal opening of the Chicago & Eastern Illi-
nois passenger line between Chicago and St. Louis, July
31, 1904, the public has been quick to appreciate the
high standard of service maintained, and to respond with
liberal and constantly increasing patronage.
The up-to-date spirit of enterprise that permeates
every department of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
Railroad is seen in the advertising policy of the com-
pany. A carefully thought out and well systematized
campaign of publicity is being carried on under the
direction of the general passenger agent. Liberal news-
paper space is used, and the copy features the special
points which appeal to the average person traveling
either for business or pleasure. Emphasis is laid upon
the smooth double-track, block signal system, ventila-
tion and cooling of all cars by means of electric fans,
electric reading lights in berths, splendid dining car
service, etc. By this kind of intelligent advertising, the
public is favorably influenced, and the result is readily
seen in the increased volume of business.
The Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad through its
affiliations with the Frisco system is now enjoying
a large and growing passenger traffic from Chicago
through St. Louis to the great Southwest. It is now
admittedly the best route to Galveston, Houston, Dallas,
Fort Worth, Oklahoma City, and other points in that
great and prosperous region.
This line also reaches New Orleans, running splen-
didly equipped trains in connection with the Louis-
ville & Nashville, via Nashville, Birmingham, Mont-
gomery and Mobile. For several years the Chicago &
Eastern Illinois Railroad has had a practical monopoly
of the Chicago-Florida travel. During the past twelve
months it has controlled about 90 per cent of the traffic
to Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Tallahassee, Pensacola
and other Florida points.
One of the peculiarly fortunate circumstances that
have contributed to the rapid development of travel
over this popular line, is the location of its general
offices and depot in the La Salle Street Station, Chi-
cago. The location is ideal for the convenience of the
road's patrons, being the only railroad station on the
Elevated Loop and within three or four minutes' walk
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
105
several of the divisions of the Pennsylvania lines. He
tilled the position of superintendent of the Richmond
and Louisville divisions of the Pennsylvania lines and
main line division of the Vandalia system, and in June.
1901, was appointed general manager of the Vandalia
system. On December 15. 1903, he was appointed
general manager of the Rock Island system, and on
March i, 1905, was elected second vice-president and
general manager of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Rail-
road, and vice-president of the Evansville & Terre
Haute Railroad, Evansville & Indianapolis Railroad,
and Evansville Belt Railway.
His father is John F. Miller, who was for many
years identified with the Pennsylvania Lines in an
November to accept a position as assistant local freight
agent for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, which he held
until January, 1893, when he was appointed local agent.
HARRY I. MILLER.
official capacity and is now vice-president of the Cleve-
land, Akron & Columbus Railway.
W. J. Jackson, general superintendent of the Chi-
cago & Eastern Illinois at Chicago, has for twenty-
eight years have been in active service. He was
born in Toronto, Canada, December 28, 1859, the only
son of John and Jane Jackson.
In November, 1877, as machinist's helper, he went
to work at the Grand Trunk railway shops, in his native
city. The following year he worked as a freight
handler and after that as freight clerk. He came to
Chicago in 1882, becoming chief claim clerk for the
Grand Trunk, and three years later he was promoted
to the position of general freight foreman. From
November. 1890, to August, 1891. he served as assist-
ant agent for the road. He left the Grand Trunk in
W. J. JACKSON.
He became assistant general superintendent of the line
in July. 1899, and in February, 1903, he became gen-
eral superintendent.
Mr. Jackson is a man of domestic tastes and has
little to do with clubs. He has always been affiliated
with the Republican party. He was married to Miss
Eliza Preston. They have a family of four children,
three daughters, Anna May, Edna Gracey and Emma
Isabella, and a son, Arnold.
The Chicago & Western Indiana Railway extends
from Dearborn Station. Chicago, to Dolton, with an
extension to the Indiana state line, near Hammond,
Indiana. It is a terminal road and has been used for
over twenty years for an entrance into Chicago by the
Wabash, Grand Trunk, Monon, Erie and Santa Fe
railroads. These popular railway systems extend into
all parts of the East and West ; from Portland, Maine
and New York City in the East, to Los Angeles and
San Francisco, California, in the West.
Dearborn Station on Polk street . is easily reached
from all parts of the city and is one of the most beau-
tiful and commodious stations in the city. Its use by
eastern, southern and western roads, makes transfer of
passengers from one road to another easy and con-
venient.
The Belt Railway Company of Chicago is popu-
larly known as the Inner Belt Line, and it enjoys a
106
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
large business in the transfer of freight cars between the
various railroad lines, industries and warehouses in and
about Chicago. Its tracks extend from the Chicago,
Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway (Cragin) to South Chi-
cago and the South Chicago docks, connecting with all
railroads entering the city. Many large industries are
located on the Belt Railway. Among them may be men-
tioned the great works of the Illinois Steel Company
and the International Harvester Company, Deering
Division, at South Chicago, the new and extensive plant
tively small industry in proportion to its present mag-
nitude, and from the company, as it was first established
for the purpose of constructing sleeping cars after the
pattern of Mr. Pullman's invention, it has grown to a
corporation with a capital stock of $74,000,000, and
facilities for building, not only sleeping cars, but pas-
senger and freight cars of all descriptions. A few fig-
ures regarding this great industry cannot fail to be of
interest. The shops at Pullman have a capacity of
turning out an average of six sleeping cars, fifteen pas-
POLK STREET DEPOT.
of the Western Electric Company, and Pettibone,
Mulliken & Company, the Morden Frog & Crossing
Works, International Salt Works. Western Steel Car
Company, besides innumerable elevators, iron furnaces,
coal and lumber yards.
The management is constantly receiving inquiries
from and furnishing information to parties seeking suit-
able sites for industrial plants.
Pullman's Palace Car Company was organized
under the laws of the state of Illinois in February, 1867,
by the late George M. Pullman, with a capital of
$100,000. As originally founded, it was a compara-
senger coaches, and 400 freight cars per week. In the
shops about 54,000 tons of coal are consumed annually,
and over 100,000 tons of iron and about 56,500,000 feet
of lumber are used. The total amount of wages paid
by the company to its employees at Pullman, from Sep-
tember i, 1880, to July 31. 1904. was $67,174,361.05,
and the value of materials used during the same period
was $141,213,423.10. The number of cars owned and
controlled by the company at the close of the fiscal
year ending July .31, 1904, was 4,095, consisting of
sleeping, parlor and dining cars. The total mileage of
railways covered by contracts for the operation of cars
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
109
Roosevelt, Mr. Bird believes in "a square deal for every
man." And even- man who comes under Mr. Bird's eye
in the cause of his professional duties gets "a square
deal," as A. C. Bird's personal record has always been
''clean as a hound's tooth" — to use another of our Presi-
dent's expressive similes.
All his life Mr. Bird has been a worker. The gos-
pel of work has found no more strenuous advocate.
A. C. BIRD.
Mr. Bird, nevertheless, has always found time to secure
the exercise necessary to keeping in good physical trim,
for preserving the "sound mind in the sound body."
So in Mr. Bird's case, at least, there is no fear of the
sword wearing out the scabbard. Unlike some rail-
road magnates he never has to spend long weeks at
continental spas to obtain a new lease of health. Mr.
Bird is now in the prime of life holding perhaps the
most responsible position among all the captains of
industry in this busy city.
Alexander f. Banks, president of the Elgin, Joliet
& Eastern Railroad and of the Chicago, Lake Shore
& Eastern Railroad, has been a railway man all his life,
having begun his career as office boy in the contract-
ing freight agent's office of the St. Louis & Southern
Railway. He is a young man, but is as well known in
railway circles as many of his veteran colleagues.
Mr. Banks was born on a farm in Crawford County,
Indiana, but from his very childhood he evinced incli-
nations for something different from agricultural pur-
suits. Two years after entering his duties as office
boy he was promoted to contracting agent and was
one of the youngest agents employed by the road. His
first station as agent was that at Evansville, Indiana.
After one year he became traveling and general agent
of the Continental Fast Freight Lines. In that capacity
he served eight years. From January i to September
i , 1 888. he was general agent of the Iowa Central Rail-
road at Peoria, Illinois, and became general freight agent
of the same road in September, 1888. Mr. Banks'
steady rise continued. May i, the following year, he
took the positions of general freight and general pas-
senger agents of the Iowa Central. In March, 1890, he
was made traffic manager and remained as such until
August, 1893, when he resigned to accept the postion
of traffic manager of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Rail-
road. In May, 1899, he was appointed traffic manager
also for the Chicago, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad.
In May, 1901, he was elected to his present position.
Mr. Banks, although an indefatigable worker in his
office, is one of the pillars of some of the representa-
tive clubs of Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, residing
ALEXANDER F. BANKS.
in the latter place. He is a member of the Union
League Club, Chicago Athletic Association, Mid-
Day Club, Glen View Golf Club, the Country Club at
Evanston and the Evanston Club.
John C. Fetzer, prominently identified with real
estate, financial and public affairs of Chicago, was born
in Clarion, Pennsylvania, June 13 .1865. When he was
three years old his parents moved to Ottumwa, Iowa,
and in that city Mr. Fetzer spent his boyhood days.
His father, William H. Fetzer, who was a lawyer, was
110
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
active for twenty years in Republican political affairs
of Iowa.
After graduating from the Otturmva High School
in 1881, Mr. Fetzer went to Omaha as assistant to the
president of a large wholesale implement concern. He
remained there until 1895, when he came to Chi-
JOHN C. FETZER.
cago to accept the position of manager of the McCor-
mick estate. As representative of the estate, he was
largely instrumental in the organization of the Interna-
tional Harvester Company, of which the McCormick
and Deering companies were leading factors.
Mr. Fetzer also aided in the organization of the
Jackson Trust & Savings Bank, the First Mortgage
& Bond Company and the Illinois Surety Company.
He acted for some time as vice-president of the two
first-named concerns and is still a director in the Illinois
Surety Company. In 1903 Mr. Fetzer was appointed
a member of the board of education and has served much
of the time since then as chairman of the finance com-
mittee. In the early part of July, 1905, he was elected
vice-president of the board. He is also a director of the
Fort Dearborn National Bank, the Protection Mutual
Fire Insurance Company and the Keystone Mutual Fire
Insurance Company.
Besides being brought prominently before the pub-
lic as a member of the school board, Mr. Fetzer has
come to public attention as managing receiver of the
Union Traction Company. Judge Grosscup, in whose
court the affairs of the company have been administered
for several years, appointed Mr. Fetzer to this position
February 15, 1904, and he retained it until his resigna-
tion May 15, 1905. While he was managing receiver
more than $2,000,000 was spent in rehabilitating the
North and West Side Traction systems.
Mr. Fetzer resides at the Palmer House. As a resi-
dent of the First ward, and active Republican worker,
Mr. Fetzer has devoted much time to elevating the tone
of politics in the district. He is a life member of the
Hamilton Club, a member of the Chicago Yacht, Chi-
cago Athletic, Hinsdale and Hinsdale Golf clubs, and
also a member of the Chicago Real Estate Board.
Richard Fitzgerald, vice-president and general
superintendent of the Chicago Junction Railway, began
his career as a telegraph operator. Besides being
vice-president and general superintendent of the Chi-
cago Junction Railway, he is president of the Chicago
Refrigerator Car Company, and a director in the Fort
Dearborn National bank.
Mr. Fitzgerald was married in 1881 at Shannon,
Illinois, to Miss Gertrude Newcomer. They have two
children, Marie and Gertrude. Mr. Fitzgerald is a
thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar, member
RICHARD FITZGERALD.
of the Washington Park Club, Midlothian Golf Club,
Union League and Chicago Athletic clubs. His resi-
dence is the Kenwood hotel. Mr. Fitzgerald is forty-
eight years of age.
Alonzo Clark Mather. As the name Pullman is a
synonym for the sleeping car, that of Mather is indis-
solubly associated with the stock car. What Pullman
did toward revolutionizing the system of travel for
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Ill
men, Mather's inventive genius and humane impulses
led him to attempt and successfully accomplish for the
amelioration of the condition during transit of the dumb
brute.
The Mather Humane Stock Transportation Com-
pany, of which Mr. Mather is president, is the agency
through which is carried out on most of the railroads
of the United States and Canada the objects which the
inventor of the improved stock car sought to accom-
plish when in 1881 he designed and built the first sam-
ple of the new method of the stock transportation.
In that year while on a trip east, Mr. Mather was
delayed twelve hours through a wreck. Beside the car
occupied by him was a train of cattle cars of the type
then in use, in which were five dead steers and several
maimed and bleeding ones. The animals had met their
deaths or injuries through the efforts of one large and
powerful animal to force his way from one end of the
car to the other in a search for food and water. It
occurred to Mr. Mather that there should be some way
to transport cattle and avoid such conditions, and that
if an improved method could be devised, it would be
humane, and at the same time save loss by death and
shrinkage in weight and delay in reaching market, if a
system of feeding without stopping could be designed.
As a result of thought on these lines, Mr. Mather
designed and sketched a car in which stock could be
separated, fed and watered in the car. Obtaining a
patent on the invention, he started out to induce a rail-
road to build such a vehicle. The railroads, however,
declined to invest the money required, preferring to
leave the cost to be met by individuals. Mr. Mather
expended a large sum of money before he succeeded
in producing a car after his designs which would stand
the hard usage. Experience taught him also to do
away with separate compartments, as the cattle rode
easily together as long as movement in search of food
was unnecessary. When the first improved car was
finally completed, a test was made by transporting cattle
from the same farm in the same train, one lot in the old-
fashioned car and one in the new improved car. The
occupants of the former were unloaded, fed and watered
in the yards, while those in the improved car were fed
in the car while it stood on side tracks. Careful tests as
to weights, live and dressed, after arrival in New York,
revealed astonishing results, and subsequent tests made
for two years, when the improved cars were in practical
operation, disclosed that the saving in shrinkage by
the use of the improved method averaged twenty
pounds per head, or $1.20 per animal. This saving has
represented for a period of twenty-two years the enor-
mous sum of over $25,000,000 on cattle shipped from
Chicago alone.
The history of Mr. Mather's establishment of the
company bearing his name and the obstacles which
had to be overcome to insure the success of the
improved method of carrying animals, is the history of
most reforms and innovations. But the disappointments
encountered and the risks ran were to a large extent
compensated for by the recognition of the invention
by the contribution to him of an elaborate gold medal
by the American Humane Association in 1883, two
years after he demonstrated the feasibility of his inven-
tion.
Mr. Mather was born at Fairfield, Herkimer County,
New York, the son of William and Mary Ann (Buell)
Mather, and is a direct descendant of the Mathers
who occupied so distinguished a place in the early
ALONZO CLARK MATHER.
colonial history of New England, and produced the
famous Cotton Mather, the most remarkable and prom-
inent of the name. The Mather family held for three
generations so important a position in Boston that it
was said of the men of that name that the snapping
of a finger of one of them could produce a revolution.
Alonzo Clark Mather obtained his education in
the Fairfield Preparatory School, an institution origi-
nally founded by his grandfather, Moses Mather, as
a medical college. His father, known as one of the
foremost writers and lecturers of his time on natural
sciences and chemistry, was president of the institution
for nearly a quarter of a century. Finishing his course
of study at the Fairfield school, Mr. Mather sought
employment in a mercantile house in Utica, New York,
112
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
which he left a year later at the age of nineteen to
embark in business for himself at Little Falls, New
York. Ambitious to invade a larger field, he came
West a year later to Ouincy, Illinois, and thence to
Chicago, where he established himself in the wholesale
men's furnishing business on Madison street, and for
twenty years he was numbered among the prominent
and successful merchants of the city.
In 1895. he disposed of his mercantile business to
devote himself exclusively to the growing development
of the business of building and running his improved
stock cars. The personal and exclusive attention given
to the stock car company, was justified in the results
which followed. At present there are from one to
three trains dispatched daily from Chicago to New
York which carry practically no cars except the Mather
car. The company owns large numbers of these cars
operated over different roads in the United States and
Canada, and an injured animal is now rarely heard of
where formerly nearly every car reaching Chicago con-
tained dead or crippled cattle.
Mr. Mather's interests are, however, not confined to
the Mather stock car, but are varied. He has for
many years been identified with a plan for developing
the current power of the Niagara River at Buffalo
under a system original with himself and he has patented
many inventions now in general use, as well as an origi-
nal idea of commercially utilizing the great tidal and
wave power of the ocean, which Mr. Mather believes,
are possibilities of the future.
He is a member of the Union League and Mar-
quette Clubs, and an original member of the First Regi-
ment, Illinois National Guard, his connection with the
latter dating from the period when it had its armory
over a store on Lake street.
Thomas Eugene Mitten, president of the Chi-
cago City Railway Company, is a descendant of one
of the oldest families in Sussex, England. He is the son
of George and Jane Mitten, and was born at Brighton,
Sussex, March 31, 1865. Therehe received his education.
He was about fifteen years of age when he emigrated to
the United States, remaining on a farm until 1884, when
he entered the service of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
Railroad Company as telegraph operator. He suc-
cessively filled for this and other railroads the positions
of freight and ticket agent, train dispatcher, trainmaster,
and adjuster of claims, until 1893, when he accepted
the position of general superintendent of the Denver,
Lakewood & Golden Railroad, in Colorado. One of
the first moves of this company, under his manage-
ment, was the construction and electrically equipping
of its suburban lines.
In 1895 Mr. Mitten became connected with the Mil-
waukee street railway, during a period when a most
bitterly contested strike was on. As a street railway
superintendent, his administration was eminently suc-
cessful, and his energy, firmness and tact, together with
his manner of handling this strike, brought him into
prominent notice, and secured him the position of gen-
eral superintendent of that railway system.
It was during the Pan-American Exposition at Buf-
falo in 1901, however, that Mr. Mitten first had an
opportunity to display his superior qualifications as a
railroad manager. Selected as one who had a record
of being competent to handle large traffic, Mr. Mitten
was made general superintendent of Buffalo's Allied
Street Railway companies, and the immense crowds
which attended the exposition were so satisfactorily
THOMAS EUGENE MITTEN.
cared for as to excite the admiration of the public as
well as the local New York press.
In recognition of his executive ability and results
secured by him, Mr. Mitten was made general manager
of the International Railway Company of Buffalo, in
December, 1901, which position he filled most accept-
ably until February, 1905, when he resigned and
accepted the position of first vice-president and manag-
ing director of the Chicago City Railway Company,
which position he filled until July, 1905, when he was
elected president of that company.
Mr. Mitten is one of the best equipped railroad men
in the country. As a general manager he had few
equals. Executive ability never had a more thorough
exponent than is shown in the make-up of Mr. Mitten,
who possesses the happy faculty of winning the confi-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
113
dence and respect of his employees, toward whom he
literally applies the Biblical injunction of "doing toward
others as he would be done by." His well-established
reputation for absolute fairness and impartiality in treat-
ment of employes, has won for him the respect, con-
fidence and loyal support of his subordinates.
For a number of years Mr. Mitten has given leading
street railway systems of the country specialized serv-
ices of the highest character, coupled with integrity of
character, fertility in resources, the ability to create and
carry out new ideas, admirable executive powers, and
an unfailing gift of doing the right thing at the right
time. He is in the prime of life, untiring in zeal and
energy, and unites in his official administration all the
qualities of the progressive business man and the rail-
roader. Judging by his past career, he is eminently
fitted for the hard and complex duties that will be
i equired of him as the operating head of a system having
to handle such an immense traffic as is enjoyed by the
Chicago City Railway.
Mr. Mitten is a member of the leading clubs in
Chicago, Buffalo and New York City, as well as the
Lafayette Lodge, F. & A. M., of Milwaukee; a thirty-
second degree Mason, and a Knight Templar, belong-
ing to Ivanhoe Commandery.
Mason B. Starring has risen from the position of
clerk to general manager of the Chicago City Rail- .
way Company, in a period of fifteen years. A long
line of sturdy American ancestors who have participated
in the upbuilding of the Nation since its inception, com-
bined with his own ambition and concentration have
contributed to his success. Mr. Starring was horn in
Chicago, May 8, 1859. His father was general baggage
agent of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway,
and invented the system of checking baggage now in
vogue in this country. Among the first settlers in the
New World were members of the Starring family, who
came from Holland. Starrings fought in the Revolu-
tion.
Mr. Starring graduated from the old Central High
School, and at the age of eighteen years entered the
baggage department of the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy -Railway. At the age of twenty years he had
become a general officer of the company, being made
head of the baggage department to succeed his father.
Until 1885 Mr. Starring continued in the employ of
steam railways, part of the time being general bag-
gage agent of the Pennsylvania Company. From
1885 to 1888 he engaged in business for himself,
settling in Iowa as a banker and grain dealer. In 1888
he entered the office of the president of the Chicago
City Railway Company as a clerk. He studied law at
night, was admitted to the bar, and in 1894 was made
assistant general counsel of the Chicago City Railway,
under Julius S. Grinnell. At the death of Mr. Grinnell
in 1898 Mr. Starring was made acting general counsel
of the railway company. In 1903 his title was changed
to general solicitor. Since May, 1904, Mr. Starring
has been a director and general manager of the
company.
His wife was Miss Helen Swing, daughter of the
late Prof. David Swing, perhaps the greatest liberal and
independent preacher Chicago ever knew. The Star-
rings' elder son, who is seventeen years old, is a name-
sake of his famous grandfather. The younger son,
fifteen years old, is named after Mr. Starring. The Star-
MASON B. STARRING.
rings live at 568 East Division street in the winter and
at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, in the summer. Mr. Star-
ring is a member of the Chicago, Calumet, Washington
Park and Lake Geneva Country clubs. He is one of
the convention committee of the Chicago Commercial
Association, and a member of the Sons of the American
Revolution.
Dwight Foster Cameron's career admirably illus-
trates the opportunity for success the poor country boy
has in this country. He left his father's farm in New
York state in the fifties and settled in Illinois with $40
as his worldy possessions, but endowed with determi-
nation and ambition inherited from a long line of
Scottish ancestors. To-day he is president of the South
Chicago City Railway Company and the Hammond
Whiting & Fast Chicago City Electric Railway Com-
114
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
pany, and a very capable and successful lawyer, although
not now in active practice.
Until he was sixteen years old Mr. Cameron
remained on his father's farm in Madison County, New
York, near the village of Peterboro, where he was born
July 28, 1834. He was a big, active boy and when he
was sixteen years old did the work of a full-grown man.
His schooling was limited to the winter terms in the
district school, until he was sixteen years old, when he
began a course at Peterboro Academy. He remained
here four years, paying his way with money he earned
himself. After young Cameron was eighteen years old
he taught school in the winter to make his expenses.
At the age of twenty, completing his course at the
academy, he left home and started out for the West as
DWIGHT FOSTER CAMERON.
the pioneer of the family, all of the members of which
later followed him. He reached Ottawa, Illinois, and
determined to settle there. After a few months' work
in a bank he began to study law in the office of Glover
& Cook. Young Cameron began to practice law
before the justices when he had been in the law office a
month. In 1858 he was admitted to the bar. General
W. H. L. Wallace, Oliver C. Gray and Washington
Bushnell examined him, and the late George C. Camp-
bell, who afterwards became a well-known corporation
lawyer.
Mr. Cameron was a successful lawyer from the start.
He had no connections except those of his own making,
but hardly any time elapsed before he had a good and
paying practice. When he was thirty years old he
became the attorney and a director of the Ottawa.
Oswego & Fox River Valley Railroad, and took part
in promoting and building its line, which started at
Streator and ran to Geneva. It was planned to compete
with other roads for the traffic of the towns in the Fox
River valley, and it finally developed into the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Railroad. He served as attorney
and director of this road from 1864 to 1870, and during
this time he did all the law business of the company and
tried all its suits, being assisted in only two of them.
Its condemnation suits were under a constitutional
provision, new at that time, which presented some diffi-
cult problems.
He was married in 1858, the year he was admitted
to the bar, to Fanny E. Norris, daughter of George H.
Norris, a banker of Ottawa. Their children are Captain
George H. Cameron, Fourth United States Cavalry,
Mrs. Williston Fish, wife of Mr. Williston Fish of the
Union Traction Company of Chicago, and the Rev.
Dwight F. Cameron, Jr., of Miami, Florida.
In 1870 Mr. Cameron came to Chicago, where he has
since been actively engaged in business. In 1892, in
connection with the late Columbus R. Cummings, he
built the South Chicago City Railway, and thereafter
developed the Hammond, Whiting & East Chicago
Electric Railway in connection with it.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad, as
shown on the map on the following page, connects
twenty-two cities and towns, having a population of
1 50,000, with Chicago, a city of over 2,000,000.
The territory through which this road operates and
the character of construction are considered by compe-
tent judges to be the best in America.
The original line was built in 1895 and 1896 from
North Chicago to Waukegan, and was known as The
Bluff City Electric Street Railway Company. In 1898
the line was extended south to Highland Park and the
name changed to The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric
Railroad Company. It met with such favor that the
next year the connection was made south to Evanston
and through business was established on August 10,
1899.
In 1902 the extension from Lake Bluff to Liberty-
ville was completed, and two years later was extended
west to Rockefeller. Early in 1905 the extension north
of Waukegan was begun, and formal opening of the line
to Zion City taking place August 26. Work on the
extension further north is being continued and in the
fall of this year (1905) will be completed to Kenosha.
Among the towns reached by the road now are:
Evanston, Llewellyn Park, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Win-
netka, Lakeside, Glencoe, Ravinia Park, Highland Park,
Fort Sheridan, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff. Waukegan,
Libertyville and Rockefeller. It will soon be possible
to take a continuous ride by trolley from Chicago to
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
115
Milwaukee. The fare is low and the trip cool and com-
fortable in summer and warm in winter. The cars of the
electric road being of the latest pattern and having all
the modern equipment, they run with the smoothness
and ease of a Pullman coach. This excellent service has
done much to develop prosperous suburban towns and
magnificent summer homes, and country clubs and rec-
reation grounds located in this section. On stretches
of the road a speed of fifty miles an hour is maintained.
Among the exclusive country clubs which have their
grounds along the line of The Chicago & Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE
CT^ LAKE FOREST
ROCKEFELLER FORT SHERIDAN
HIGHWOOD
HIGHLAND PARK
RAVIN I A
OLENCOE
LAKESIDE
.WINNETKA
KENILWORTH
' . W1LMETTE
EVANSTON
RACINE
KENOSHA
WINTHROP HARBOR
CAMP LOGAN
Z10NCITY
BEACH
V WAD KEG AN
O(f NO.CHICAGO
CHICAGO
Electric Railroad are the Evanston Golf Club, Glenview
Golf Club, Kenilworth Country Club, Wilmette Country
Club, Skokie Country Club, Exmoor Country Club,
Onwentsia Club and Waukegan Country Club.
The United States Government has appropriated
$300,000 as a beginning of a naval station to be located
at Lake Bluff. The site for the training station com-
prises 350 acres, and when completed the Government
will have expended at least $2,000,000 on the buildings
and improvements contemplated.
Fort Sheridan has always been one of the attractive
features along the North Shore, being one of the finest
military posts in the country. Tt offers attractions to
visitors at all times ; daily drills in the morning and
band concerts in the afternoon attract large crowds.
Picnic parties are allowed on certain parts of the reser-
vation, which accommodates a complete infantry regi-
ment, four batteries of artillery and four cavalry troops.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad makes
a specialty of providing cars for picnic parties during
the summer. Many take advantage of these oppor-
tunities to visit the beautiful groves and woodland dells
along its route. The city transportation lines connect
with the electric road at Church street in Evanston.
The general offices of The Chicago & Milwaukee
Electric Railroad Company are at 108 La Salle street.
The officers are A. C. Frost, president; H. S. Oakley,
vice-president; George M. Seward, secretary and treas-
urer. The directors are : A. C. Frost, George M. Sew-
ard, H. S. Oakley, Joseph E. Otis, all of Chicago,
and H. C. Osborne of Toronto, Canada. The oper-
ating offices and power plant are located at High-
wood. Ever since the road was started the roadbed,
overhead construction, power plant, sub-stations and
equipment have all been maintained in a high state
of efficiency. During 1904 and 1905 the power plant
was enlarged to more than double its former capacity.
It is the ultimate plan of the road to have its right-
of-way entirely confined to its own property. So
rapidly is the country building up along the line that
every effort is being made to secure the private right-of-
way before the value of the property will make such a
plan prohibitive by reason of the extensive improve-
ments going in all along the line. Over a million dol-
lars has already been spent by the company for its
private right-of-way, which, in time, is to be a four-
track system. All the improvements that are being put
in along the line are of the most permanent and sub-
stantial character.
The rapid growth of the company is best shown by
the steady increase in the net earnings for the past five
years. The net earnings for 1900 were $81,169; for
1901, $97,156; for 1902, $110,746; for 1903, $193,619;
and for 1904, $285,617, this being an increase of 250
percent in five years. The traffic during 1905 has been
steadily on the increase and the earnings will undoubt-
edly go well over the $300,000 mark.
CHAPTER XIX.
B
A
N
K
S
o
F
C
H
I C
A
GO.
URING the first century of its exist-
ence Chicago has grown from a fron-
tier trading post, where the mediums
of exchange were pelts and powder
and ball, to the second financial cen-
ter of the United States. To-day its
banking institutions are exceeded
only by New York in capital in-
vested, resources, deposits and clear-
ings. But three cities in all the world
:ke financial rank ahead of Chicago — New
k, London and Paris. New York was
nearly two centuries old before Chicago became dis-
tinguishable 111)011 the map of the United States, while
London and Paris had become centers of population
over a thousand years before.
The greatest growth of Chicago's financial interests
has taken place in the last forty years. When the Chi-
cago clearing house was organized in 1865 its business
hardly exceeded $400,000,000 a year. It is now over
$9,000,000,000, an increase of over 2,100 per cent. In
the tremendous growth and development that followed
after the great fire the banks of Chicago led. Chicago's
clearing house was organized in 1865, but its records
for the local banks date back only to 1873. For that
year the thirty national, state and private banks had a
capital of $i 1,940,700. On May 31, 1905, the forty-nine
national and state banking institutions of Chicago were
capitalized for $48,350,000, an increase in thirty-three
years of $36,409,300. The surplus and profits of all the
banking institutions of the city in 1873 were $4,222,010.
For May, 1905, they were more than nine times as great,
reaching the immense total of $38,273,341. In the
same year after the fire the banks loaned $36,951,998.
They now carry over tenfold that amount, the loans in
May of this year aggregating $403,673,162. But in no
way is the wealth and progress of the city so emphatic-
ally indicated as in the increase in deposits in the banks
since the fire. The first clearing house statistics give
the total bank deposits for Chicago at $40,600,522.
They now total $634,935,642.
The first step in Chicago's financial history was
taken when the Indian traders adopted a rude banking
system by issuing a kind of currency in the nature of
written promises to pay for the pelts the Indians brought
to the fort. Every scrap of that paper was redeemed
and passed current at its face value.
To Gurdon S. Hubbard may be given the credit of
being Chicago's first banker, and he lived to see the
trading post lying under the protecting stockade of
Fort Dearborn, grow to a city of a million souls. He
had funds on deposit at Buffalo, and his bills of exchange
were always honored. He was able to do his neighbors
an important neighborly service by selling them Buffalo
exchange, and in those days Buffalo was the metropolis
of the Middle West, to use a modem term. All
through the East such bills were acceptable money
remittances. The first bank in Illinois, called the Bank
of Illinois, was located at Shawneetown, which, for all
practical purposes, was about as far from Chicago as
Manila is to-day. Its charter was granted two years
before the state was admitted into the Union. It was
renewed by the state legislature, the state itself becom-
ing a partner in the business. That institution failed,
involving considerable loss to the state. Branches were
established, but Chicago was too small to have even
a branch until late in the year 1835, when the Chicago
Branch of the Illinois State Bank was announced.
That was the first real banking house in the history
of the city. It was located at the corner of La Salle and
South Water streets. W. H. Brown, whose name is fitly
borne by one of the public schools of the city, he being
eminent in the promotion of our educational sys-
tem, was the practical head of the bank, having the
title of cashier. The deposits for the first three months
averaged about seven hundred dollars a day. It flour-
110
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
117
islied until the spring of 1837, when the great crash
which came to the whole country brought distress. The
state undertook to rescue the bank by plunging into a
grand system of internal improvements, but the inevit-
able bankruptcy came to a head in 1843, ar>d the Chicago
branch went out of existence finally in 1843. Even
before this it had been reduced to an agency, the branch
proper being removed to Lockport. The actual cur-
rency of the period from 1837 to 1843 was largely made
up of city and private scrip, with a very considerable
ago. He belonged to Milwaukee almost as much as
Chicago, for his banking career really began with secur-
ing from the legislature of Wisconsin in 1839 a charter
for the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company,
authorized to receive deposits and issue "certificates"
to the sum of $1,500.000. That institution had its
headquarters at Milwaukee, but Mr. Smith resided in
Chicago, where he conducted a private bank under the
name of George Smith & Co. For twenty-one years he
was the leading banker of the West, and the certificates
GARFIELD PARK GREENHOUSE— INTERIOR.
infusion of bank notes issued under the banking laws
of other states.
The first really great banker of Chicago was George
Smith, a preeminently "canny" Scotchman, a man of
remarkable business ability and unimpeachable integ-
rity. Not a dollar of the millions of paper bearing the
signature of "Geo. Smith" ever failed to be redeemed
on demand. No run ever broke him. His system was
fiercely assailed as illegal, but it had no taint of dishon-
esty. Private banking, as conducted by him in Chicago
for twenty years, while it yielded him a great fortune,
was of incalculable benefit to Chicago and the region
round about.
It was in the spring of 1834 that Mr. Smith reached
Chicago to seek his fortune. He found it and returned
to London to enjoy it in 1860, where he died a few years
which bore his name were always redeemed on demand.
It was a great thing for Chicago banking to have its
foundations laid by so sound and sagacious a banker.
Many of the banks, private and chartered, which
were doing business here when the crash of 1857 came,
went down with the general crash. Others went out vol-
untarily and still others reorganized under the national
bank act. J. M. Adsit. who began as a private banker
in 1846. continued the business thirty years and then
retired, the last of the private bankers who survived the
storm of 1857. Of the banks then doing business under
state charters all are gone and have been for many years,
except the Merchants' Loan & Trust Bank, which
declined to go into the national system, and has always
been one of the great banks of the city. During the
period of "wild-cat" banking Chicago made, as a whole,
118
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
a good banking record. Besides the bankers named
honorable mention should be made of J. Young Scam-
mon, J. H. Burch, E. J. Tiukham, R. K. Swift, H. A.
Tucker and Solomon A. Smith.
The national bank act dates from March 25, 1863.
Ft found Chicago, in common with the country gener-
ally, in woeful need of a larger and, above all, a better
medium of exchange. The legal tender notes of the
government were utterly inadequate to the currency
needs of trade. The country had fully recovered from
the depression which began almost simultaneously with
the year 1857, ancl was rendered more pronounced dur-
ing the early period of the war. Many of the banks
whose bills circulated largely here when the Civil War
began were located in the South. Those which con-
tinued to do business suspended specie payments. It
is not too much to say that the national bank system
was born of necessity. The government needed the
money, which would have to be paid for its bonds, to
serve as a base of circulation, and the people needed
the bills for use as a sound medium of exchange. Still
for more than a year the change from state bank notes
to a national bank currency went on slowly. Finally,
patience exhausted, the Chicago Board of Trade
announced, in a notice signed by all the leading mem-
bers of that body, and dated May 9, 1864, "that on and
after the I5th inst. the base of transactions, either buy-
ing or selling, should be legal tender notes or the;r
equivalent." Three days later the bankers of the city
announced that "on and after Monday, May 16, 1864,
we will receive on deposit at par, and pay out at par
only, legal tender notes, national bank notes and the
notes of such other banks as redeem at par in the city
of Chicago." That ended the era of wild-cat money
in this city. The national bank system received a veri-
table boom. By the close of 1864 Chicago had seven
national banks — namely, the First, Second, Third,
Fourth, Fifth, Mechanics' and Northwestern. Of these
only three survive, the First, Northwestern and Fifth,
the latter under a change of name. An eighth, the
Manufacturers', long since defunct, was organized about
that time. One of the newspapers of the period
remarked at that time : "One million of dollars a day
goes into the country from Chicago to the producers.
Well may the bankers rejoice that the days of rag money
are over."
On those days, and for many years after, there was
profit in the national bank circulation, and it was issued
as the needs of business required, but of late years
the policy of our banks has been to put in circulation
only the minimum amount of their own notes. Bonds
are so high and the rate of interest so low that there is
no profit in it.
The adoption of the national bank system caused a
few bank failures, but from the close of 1864 to the
great fire of October 9. 1871, the banking business of
Chicago went on prosperously. The seven national
banks had become seventeen, and there were also ten
private banking institutions. The national bank cap-
ital at that time was $6,800,000, not including the
undivided surplus, amounting to $2,715,000. The total
bank capital of the city was $12,250,000.
In this connection should be given a memorable,
but little remembered, episode. While yet the ruins of
the smoking city were hot and no bank vaults were
opened, the bankers of the city held a conference. The
question was, How shall we open and what per cent of
deposits shall be paid on demand? A committee was
appointed. No one on that committee dreamed of pay-
ing dollar for dollar. Some said 15 per cent, others
25 per cent and still others a little more. It looked as
if the 25 per cent plan would be adopted as a compro-
mise. Suddenly, but in a very quiet way, the president
of the Merchants' National Bank, Chauncey B. Blair,
remarked, without rising from his chair: "Gentlemen,
I always like to agree with my brother bankers, and in
ordinary matters would yield to the majority, but when
it comes to paying my debts or the debts of my bank I
have only this to say, I have always paid in full and
always shall if I can. Perhaps I shall not be able to
pay even 25 per cent. The vault is still closed. It may
contain only ashes, but I shall do the best I can to meet
all the demands of my depositors." That was a thunder-
bolt. It created consternation. An adjournment was
had without action, in the hope of convincing Mr.
Blair that the banks ought to stand together.
The next day the comptroller of the currency put
in an appearance, and without knowing what Mr. Blair
had said notified the national banks that they must pay
in full, or he would not let them open at all. He was
inexorable. When the country correspondents and local
depositors found that this decree had been issued they
were greatly relieved, and when the banks did open
there was no run on them. The vaults all stood the
fire test, and in a very short time the deposits were
larger than ever.
The stringency which began in the fall of 1873 grad-
ually developed until it \veeded out several national
banks, without, however, weakening the system ; but the
failure of the State Savings Institution, the leading sav-
ings bank of the city, which occurred in 1877, and of
some minor banks, produced a far-reaching effect. It
seemed as if the very foundations of Chicago's confi-
dence in savings banks were shaken and overthrown.
For years this branch of banking was depressed. The
recovery from the shock was slow. It was not until the
state adopted a policy of supervision of all banks doing
business on state charters that confidence was regained.
When the bank panic of 1893 swept over the coun-
try it toppled over a few weak banks, but it did not work
anything like a general havoc. The Chicago clearing
house showed most excellent coolness. The storm was
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
CONDITION OF CHICAGO BANKS JUNE 13, 1873.
119
Capital.
Surplus.
Undivided
Profits.
Loans and
Discounts.
Cash and
Checks.
Deposits.
Kirst National $1,000,000
$400000
$154 339
$3 018 199
$1 U3 763
$3 731 059
Second National 10(1,000
50,000
20,396
624,448
254 697
970 581
Third National 750,000
200000
107 004
2 753 796
1 223 5 1 1
3 91° 664
Fourth National 200.000
10,000
14,451
400,735
175 548
425 491
Fifth National .500,000
100,000
56739
1 193 053
239 781
1 157 921
Merchants National 500,000
400,000
10.180
1,702,631
429 703
1 604 116
Northwestern National 500,000
500.000
49 379
1 400 031
429 438
1 016 411
Manufacturers National 500.000
100,000
7,249
I,:i36,732
451.423
1 482 598
Mechanics National 250.000
50,000
99,285
882669
229 340
928 549
Commercial National 500,000
200,000
59,634
1.450,764
59K373
1,632,836
Tnion National 1,000,000
200,000
101,975
3,567 525
1 769741
5 351 032
City National 250,000
110.000
3295
955 317
'55 421
367 774
Merchants Savings Loan and Trust 1,500,000
100,000
581.463
3,509581
225 959
1 721 130
Corn Exchange National 500,000
National Hank of Commerce 250,000
50,000
11,000
34,459
11,796
1,349,603
612 544
379.801
230.215
1,444,429
767 653
Traders National ... 200,000
4(1,000
21,896
478.889
332.893
669,045
I'reston Kean & Co 100,000
28,325
683,297
226.405
1,187,235
Hibernian Hanking Association 111.000
81 221
621 337
25971
755 954
Cook County National 500,000
10,000
34,633
1,164,761
438,122
1,460,151
.1. M. Adsit 90,000
1.528
130 817
60 990
150805
Central National.. 200,000
8 679
225 202
98 100
187 398
National Bank of Illinois 500,000
10.000
26 432
929 245
249 872
847877
Prairie State Loan and Trust 150. (*x>
7.500
33,723
591,385
38,236
813,858
German National 500,000
100,000
19,281
1,205,953
418,860
1,215,881
Hank of Montreal 100,000
21 221
1 449 970
85 006
241 903
Franklin Hank .. 100,000
3449
331 952
45981
313,326
International Hank 200.000
118,793
6,306
495,718
106,288
351,156
Hide and Leather 259,700
1,818
4,539
385,920
94,784
232.805
Union Trust 125,000
33,060
16,283
449,807
91,282
614,100
State Savings Institution 500.000
1(1 (VI9
3050045
412,327
4 445,770
Totals ... $11940700
severe, but not desolating. There was an admirable
spirit of mutual helpfulness shown all through the try-
ing ordeal. While some weak banks were obliged to
go out of business, that panic had at least one good
effect in Chicago. It is hardly too much to say that it
put an end to private banking. Individuals and partner-
ships doing a banking business felt constrained by the
pressure of self-preservation to organize under the state
banking act, thus sharing in the strengthened public
confidence which results from state inspection.
In the years from 1890 to 1899 Chicago banks passed
through trying days to end in a period of great pros-
perity. In that time Chicago emerged from the pro-
vincial in banking to the metropolitan, and became the
depository of funds for large notation enterprises. In
this latter particular, however, it must be said that the
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank stood as the particular
representative.
The first instance in which the banks of Chicago
acted as a depository of trust funds in the matter of
company promotions was at the time of the floating of
the Glucose Sugar Refining Company, with a capital of
$40,000,000. In this promotion the principal state bank
mentioned received jointly with a New York institu-
tion the underwriting deposits. Next followed the
National Biscuit Company, with a capital of $55,000.-
ooo, the principal floating of which was done in Chi-
ago. Then during the active promotion year of 1898
Chicago acted either in whole or in part as trustee for
enterprises floated with a total capital amounting to
$304,000,000.
These flotations included some of the most widely
known trusts in the country. Among them, in addition
to the Glucose Sugar Refining and National Biscuit
companies, were the American Steel & Wire Company,
the American Tin Plate Company, the National Steel
Company, the National Carbon Company, the Chicago
Union Traction Company and the American Linseed
Company.
In addition to furnishing a good portion of the cap-
ital for these enterprises, Chicago, through its banks,
became a large lender of money, not only in New York
but in London and Berlin. When, in 1898. money was
stringent in Germany and the bank rate was advanced
to 6 per cent, Chicago banks carried credits of per-
haps $10,000,000 in the German capital.
In 1899, when through the fluctuations of the New-
York stock market and the heavy transactions on
that exchange, money advanced rapidly, Chicago was
accustomed to loan daily from $2,000,000 to $8,000,000
on call, an experience which five years previous had been
unknown.
An evidence of the esteem in which Chicago banks
were held by other Western institutions was afforded in
the period of the Spanish-American war in 1898. when
there was a general disposition to withdraw deposits and
strengthen reserves. Between February 12, 1898, and
April 30, 1898, the deposits of the New York associated
banks showed a decrease of $80,180,500. The with-
drawals began immediately after the explosion of the
Maine, February 15, 1898, and ended with the battle
of Manila, May i, 1898. New York bank deposits in
that time decreased for $738,683,800 to $658.503,300.
While country institutions were drawing their depos-
its from New York banks they were increasing their
balances with Chicago institutions. According to offi-
cial statements there were in Chicago institutions about
February i total deposits of $266.481,246. According
120
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to similar statements three months later there were,
about May i, $272.934,242. There was increase there-
fore, of $6,452,996.
This preference on the part of country banks for
Chicago institutions as depositories for funds rather
than the New York banks probably grew out of the
fact that in 1893, when the industrial depression began,
New York institutions issued clearing house certificates.
The growth in deposits by years of Chicago banks
from 1890 to May 30, 1905, are shown in the following
table :
CHICAGO BANK DEPOSITS.
December.
National.
State.
Total Both.
1890
% 94,470,800
* 35.753,854
$130,224,654
1891
118,154,700
44,442,399
162,597,099
1892
130,058.550
58,363.226
188,421,776
1893
122,354,131
56,854,484
179,208,615
1894
129,626,653
67,062,067
196,688,720
1895
120.705,569
72,686,890
193.392,459
1896
110,298,369
66,963,345
177,261,714
1897
150,042,071
90,502,701
240,544,772
1898
188,131,143
"3, 958.404
302,089,547
1899
195,346,694
132,036,352
327,383,046
1900
231,386,146
158,238,138
298,624,284
1901
262,797,936
184,889,793
447,687,729
1902
265,136,636
209,921,612
475,058,248
1903
276,048,884
234,306,041
510.354,925
1904
299,588,196
297,070,456
596,658,652
May, 1905
3'5. 077,903
319,857.721
634.935.624
From the foregoing table it will be seen that the
state banks have been steadily gaining on the national
banks in the volume of deposits since 1890, and at the
last call in May, 1905, were ahead. This development
has been due probably in a large part to the latitude
which the state laws offer with reference to reserves,
compared with the national banking act.
Previous to 1899 the record in the matter of clear-
ings in the history of the clearing house association was
made in 1892. After the latter date, or until 1898,
Chicago, instead of advancing, went backward, and in
1896 the clearings were but about $100,000,000 better
than 1894, the latter being the low year after 1892.
The clearings since the clearing house was organized
follow :
CHICAGO BANK CLEARINGS.
1865 $ 319,606,228
1866 453,798,648
1871 868,030,754
1872 993,060,503
1873 1,047,027,828
1874 1,101,347,918
1875 1,212,817,207
1876 1,110,093,624
i8?7 1,044,678,475
1878 967,184,093
1879 1,257,756,124
ib8o 1,725,684,894
1881 2,240,329,924
1882 2,393,437,874
1883 2,517,371,581
1884 2,259,680,391
1885 2,318,579,003
1886 2,604,762,912
1887 $2,965,216,210
1888 3,163,774,462
1889 3,379,925,188
1890 4,039,145,904
1891 4,456,885,230
1892 5,i35.77i,i87
1893 4,676,960,968
1894 4,315,440.476
1895 4,614,979,203
1896 4,413,054,108
1897 4,575,693,340
'898 5,517,335,595
1899 6.612.313,614
1900 .... 6,799,535,598
1901 7,756,372,455
1902 8,394,872,351
1903 8,755,553,649
1904 8,989,983,764
The days of suspensions, liquidation and consolida-
tions in the last nine years began late in 1896. The most
important failure was that of the National Bank of
Illinois. A complete showing of the changes imme-
diately prior to and following the failure of that insti-
tution follows:
BANKS.
Central Trust and Savings Bank, suspended first
quarter 1896
Dime Savings Bank, suspended third quarter of 1896.
Globe Savings Bank, suspended first quarter of 1897.
Bank of Commerce, principal assets purchased by
the Union National Bank, November. 1897
International Bank, purchased by the Continental
National Bank, February, 1898
Commercial Loan and Trust Company, purchased
by the Royal Trust Company, October, 1898
National Bank of Illinois, suspended, December,
1896
Atlas National Bank, voluntary liquidation, first
quarter, 1 897
Prairie State National Bank, consolidated with Prairie
State Savings and Trust Company, August, 1897,
under new name of Prairie State Bank
Hide and Leather National Bank, purchased by
Union National Bank, December, 1897
American Exchange National Bank, consolidated
with the National Bank of America, under new
name of America National Bank, Februrary 18,
1898
Home National Bank, voluntary liquidation. Jan-
uary 18, 1898
Globe National Bank, purchased by Continental
National Bank, November 18, 1898
Metropolitan National took over West Side Bank.
February, 1899
Bankers National took over Lincoln National, July
1900
Corn Exchange National took over Northwestern
National and American National, September, 1900.
First National absorbed Union National, September.
1900
Corn Exchange National took over Merchants
National, March, 1902
First National absorbed Metropolitan Naiional,
May, 1902
Continental National took over National Bank of
North America, October, 1904
American Trust and Savings took over Federal
Trust and Savings, May, 1905
Central Trust of Illinois, reduction of capital
CAPITAL.
Decrease in banking capital $19,700,000.00
$ 200,000.00
100,000.00
200,000.00
500,000.00
500,000.00
500,000.00
1,000,000.00
700,000.00
200,000.00
300,000.00
250,000 oo
1,000,000.00
1,000,000.00
50,000.00
200,000.00
2,000,000.00
2,000,000.00
1,000,000.00
2,000,000.00
2,000,000 oo
2,000,000 oo
2,000,000.00
But in the meantime there were increases in old
capital, as well as new additions. These changes were
as follows:
1897-0.8—
National Live Stock, $750,000 to $1,000,000. .Increase, $ 250,000.00
Foreman Bros. Banking Company New Capital, 500,000.00
Home Savings Bank, $5,000 to $100,000 Increase, 95,000.00
Prairie State Savings and Trust Company,
under new name of Prairie State Bank,
$200,000 to $250,000 Increase, 50,000.00
Western State Bank New Capital, 300,000.00
1899-
July — Illinois Trust and Savings Increase, 1,000,000.00
July — State Bank of Chicago Increase, 500,000 oo
Dec. — First National of Evanston New Capital, 100,000.00
1900 —
Sept. — Corn Exchange National Increase, 1,000,000.00
Sept. — First National Increase, 2,000,000.00
1901 —
Jan. — Chicago National Increase, 500,000.00
April — Continental National Increase, 1,000,000.00
May — Hibernian Banking Association Increase, 500,000.00
Aug. — Commercial National Increase, 1,000,000.00
Oct. — Illinois Trust and Savings Increase, 1,000,000.00
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
121
1902 —
Jan. — DroversTrust and Savings New Capital, $ 200,000.00
Feh - Federal Trust and Savings New Capital, 2,000,000.00
March — American Trust and Savings Increase, 1,000,000.00
March — Chicago Savings Bank organized New Capital, 250,000.00
March — Corn Kxchange National Increase, 1,000,000.00
March — Western State Bank Increase, 200,000.00
March — Stock Yards Savings New Capital, 250,000.00
April — Colonial Trust and Savings Bank New Capital, 200,000.00
April — Drexel State Bank New Capital, 200,000.00
May — First National Increase, 3,000,000.00
May — South Chicago Savings New Capital, 200,000.00
May — National Bank of North America New Capital, 2,000,000.00
May — Central Trust Company New Capital, 4,000,000.00
June — National Bank of the Republic Increase, 1,000,000.00
Aug. — Bankers National Increase, 1,000,000 oo
Sept. — Metropolitan Trust and Savings .... Increase, 250,000.00
1903—
Feb. -Hamilton National Bank New Capital, 500,000.00
April — Manufacturers Bank New Capital, 200,000.00
June — Merchants' Loan and Trust Increase, 1,000,000.00
June — Pearsons-Taft Land Credit Company . .Increase, 100,000.00
June — Western Trust and Savings Increase, 500,000.00
Sept. — Jackson Trust and Savings New Capital, 250,000.00
Sept. — Calumet National Increase, 50,000 oo
Dec. — First Trust and Savings New Capital, 1,000,000.00
1904— .
June — Hibernian Banking Association Increase, $500,000.00
June — Prairie National New Capital, 250,000.00
Sept.— Chicago Savings Increase, 250,000.00
Sept. — Calumet Trust and Savings New Capital, 250,000.00
1905
May — American Trust and Savings Increase, 1,000,00000
Total additions to capital $33,895,000.00
It will be seen from the foregoing tables that the
changes and combinations of banks have been great
during the past decade. The centralization of banking
interests has been more than counterbalanced by the
starting of new institutions and the bringing of new
capital into the field. At the close of 1899 the banking
capital since the Illinois National failure, had shrunk
over four and a quarter million dollars. In the next five
years this had been more than overcome and the net in-
crease since 1896 was over $14,000,000, up to May, 1905.
The condition of the Chicago banks at the time of
the call. May, 1905, follows:
CONDITION OF CHICAGO STATE BANKS, MAY 31, 1905.
NAME.
Capital
Stock
Paid In.
Surplus
and
Undivided
Profits.
Loans
and
Discounts.
Bonds
and
Stocks.
Cash
on
Hand.
Due from
Other
Banks.
Checks
and
Other
Cash
Items.
Savings
Deposits
Subject to
Notice.
Individual
Deposits.
Due 10
Other
Banks.
Total
Deposits.
American Trust and Savings Hank
Austin State
$3,000,000
25000
11,969,687
39350
$18,360.031
415 601
$ 4,947,801
204 345
$ 4.648,547
56 251
$ 4,867,827
104 209
$1,467.532
$ 3.004,172
380 %1
$19,815,855
341 434
$ 6,763,344
$29,5F3,37I
•joo 385
Central Trust of Illinois.
2 000 000
916 361
7 346 041
1 196 796
1 502 1%
5 961 'J05
1 859 879
Chicago City Hank
200000
157,528
1 055201
1 87 832
52 851
330 835
619 3°6
710 593
1 3->9 919
500 000
60 314
1 161 686
924 349
215 947
79<» 096
1 112 126
31 769
Colonial Trust and Savings
200000
101 477
1 2->6 813
77 700
26 603
191 983
136 331
111 303
1 031 321
215 319
1 357 943
Cook County State Savings
50.000
2,417
225205
50000
10 425
99 421
14 709
1 42 33H
205504
347 842
200 000
16 274
850 93°
<*5 125
200000
48 094
1 143 696
419 000
45 43**
•765 161
101
1 5° I 037
93 °90
1 614 327
First Trust and Savings
1,000.000
698,075
1 1 931 892
7577313
608 402
•» 087 646
76 689
8 705 746
1 1 638 397
239723
20 583 HIM
Foreman Bros. Hanking Company ....
Hibernian Hanking Association
500,000
1,000.000
627,237
1,049,404
4,594,078
12246423
229.653
2 044 216
405,677
886 521
1,171,896
0 439 965
97,280
222 858
14 Oil 030
5,371,347
2 408 769
" 39 125
5,371,347
16 458 924
100 000
155 785
3 787 000
19 857
513 354
4 064 426
4 064 426
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank . . .
Jfcckson Trust and Savings
Kenwood Trust and Savings
4,000,000
250,000
200000
5,948,405
56.675
14,244
51,069,379
1,047,084
332865
23,808,677
240,169
10,842,927
67,165
6 778
13,170.387
180.021
8 OM)
592,309
33,223
61,150,514
131.224
37 946
26.600,686
1,025.257
102996
1,852,635
124,496
89,603.835
1,280,977
140 942
200000
11 589
380566
67 365
14 993
62 166
10 376
72 218
212 603
42 554
327 375
Merchants' Loan and Trust Company.
3,000,000
750000
3,617.532
257 748
35.704,245
3 861 516
8,890.129
663 946
6,641.797
'?33 000
12,018,007
439 032
2,148,482
188 419
5,238,095
697 152
27,634.837
3715997
15,944,552
48,817,484
4 413 149
250 000
255 760
o 667 263
303 634
*>>>9 80q
607 603
73 607
2 554 257
918 476
3 472 733
1 000000
1 684 022
13 829 196
7 857 1 1 1
3 759 256
5 154 700
554 751
9 720 894
17672 415
1 847 333
29 240 642
North Side State Savings
50 000
6 034
244 630
14 034
ST 757
2*1 9*i
151 966
159 947
311 913
800000
5 700
3 262 193
1 137
73556
2 983 593
2 983.593
200 000
13 510
6°4 519
3 100
26 750
51 766
399
202 075
361 771
563 846
Prairie State Bank
250000
73 721
4 006321
760 225
484 351
527 893
71 763
3 734 513
1,807341
6,183
5 548 037
Pullman Loan and Savings
300,000
170,613
1,714,380
1,078 095
107 545
437996
2.173
2,123468
745,808
2,869,376
500000
447 335
3 530 703
1 217 137
233 5>76
912 405
189 097
1 720 022
2,908,687
532.659
5,161,368
200 000
31 875
535 7'*3
160 987
73 476
93 494
265 194
412 883
678077
State Hank of Chicago
1 000000
609,543
10 727 233
894 190
991 899
2 032 662
678203
6 991 350
5,279,545
1,443,629
13,714,524
State Bank West Pullman.
25 000
4 643
133 971
26 836
20 573
18 893
107 300
73467
180767
*750 000
104 615
1 048 800
63'J 34°
67 339
206 399
7 096
1 441 497
165 865
1 607 362
Union Stock Yards State Hank
200000
12 448
476 970
36 535
84 849
249 498
210245
4,312
464,055
1 000 000
5*7 970
6 1 66 478
I 906 "84
420 475
2 714 689
654 935
3 707 601
6 257 836
319 455
10 284 892
1,000000
187 170
4 283 333
483 382
96 442
604 448
2 1 4 694
873 483
2 736 487
945,169
4.555,139
Total Mav 31 1905.
$23 750 000
Jiq 93^ 655
$196 ^QZ) 057
$70 734 669
$31 909 014
$55 045 836
$7 998 026
$136 361 586
$151 283 999
$32212,136
$319,857,721
* Pearson-Taft Land Credit Company does not do a general banking business.
CONDITION OF CHICAGO NATIONAL BANKS MAY 29, 1905.
BANKS.
Capital.
Surplus
and
Profits.
Loans
and
Discounts.
Specie.
Other
Cash and
Treasury
Credits.
Individual
Deposits.
Due Banks.
Due from
Hanks
and
Agents.
United
States
Bonds.
Other
Stocks
and
Bonds.
Total
Deposits.
$2 OX) 000
$1 065 962
$10471 300
$ 2 352 108
$ 734 377
$ 4 729 583
$10 218 761
$ 3 484 601
$ 50,000
$ 642.484
$14.948.324
1 000 000
1 423 345
1 2 602 653
3 530 000
1 333 166
18 009 505
4 949 319
4 393080
50000
2,152,794
22,958,824
2 000000
1 792 123
23 995 870
4 836 667
1 937 316
12872 133
21 946 850
4 429,780
500.000
2,554,833
34,818,983
3 000 000
1 232 536
33 128 159
4 699 134
6 230 294
15 543 107
37 129 714
9 400 176
50000
1,564,293
52,672,821
Corn Exchange
3.000.080
600000
3.581.208
274 692
35,105,323
3 609 495
7,603.828
444 958
2,171,713
4°2 510
25,412,546
2 544 750
22,756,877
2 72"1 151
6,638,629
1 079309
1,000.000
50000
784,960
10,093
48,169.423
5.266,901
First
8.000.000
6,113 755
57,498,500
11,514.830
4 946 301
40 009 751
52 565 506
22,917,564
2,107,000
5,973,429
92.575.357
1 000000
226614
6 303 188
991 440
814 507
6 243 307
3 341 506
2 039 157
1, 025,000
424,400
9.584,813
Hamilton
500,000
141,896
2.097,966
438,651
50,824
1 912274
1 103.080
603,749
446.686
223,254
3,015,354
Live Stock
1 000000
1 302 966
6 583 956
530 129
307596
4 671 382
4 009478
1 962 924
50,000
110.000
8,680.860
Prairie
250 000
59596
593 536
134 944
3° 126
502 330
959 030
215296
261 778
45.000
761,360
2000000
952.610
12,630.548
2.634 051
809654
9 473 822
8 9"4 224
3 539 382
207,000
858,941
18,398,046
100 000
31 067
568004
56 037
52 854
72' 867
169 872
104,802
722,867
First (Eni^lewood)
100,000
106,770
1.492,220
41.160
36704
1,598 090
170.583
46,500
56,692
1.598.090
50000
49536
787387
35.231
35595
905 567
93
140 283
12,500
905,960
Total May 29 1905
$24 600 000
$18 334 676
1207 468 105
$39 833 168
$10 915 537
$145 151 314
$169 9°6 580
$01 274 385
$5961,266
$15,401.173
$315,077,903
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
First (National Bank of Chicago. In its new
$5,000,000, eighteen-story home, the First National
Bank of Chicago is the model institution of its kind
in the world. The bank is the oldest national bank in
Chicago, and among American banks exceeded in the
amount of resources controlled by only three New York
institutions.
The bank was organized in 1863 as National Bank
No. 8. with a capital of $273,000, and a staff of five
employees and officers. Tt now has a capital of $8,000,-
ooo, deposits of $98,000,000. 10,000 depositors and
FIRST NATIONAL BANK.
550 employees. In 1903 it transacted business to the
amount of $12,000,000,000, whereas the United States
government receipts for the twelve-month ending June,
1904, amounted to little more than $1,000,000.000.
Not only in its general business methods with the
public, but in its internal organization, and its dealings
with employees has the bank blazed the path for the
financial institutions of the country. The arrangement
of its official organization according to the general
lines of trade is the feature most striking to the person
accustomed to doing business with other banking insti-
tutions. In other banks, and formerly in this one,
depositors and correspondents were classified accord-
ing to the letters of the alphabet that start their names.
Now they are apportioned according to their trade or
profession. Twenty-six lines of business are recognized
and divided into seven groups, each one in charge of a
senior and junior officer. All banking business out of
the daily routine of making deposits, securing cash,
etc., is transacted through these divisions. Division
"A," of which Vice-President David R. Forgan is the
chief, meets all persons whose business is: collateral
stocks and bonds, grain, flour and feed, meat products,
live stock commission, coal, physicians and lawyers.
Other lines are grouped in the same manner and the
men in each division become specialists and keep in
touch with the trades conditions.
For the benefit of the employees, President James B.
Forgan has devised a complete pension system, which
is supported both by the bank and its employees. On
the top floor of the building is a cafe, where a well-
known caterer daily serves lunch to the entire force of
officers and clerks at the bank's expense. Another
benefit is a savings association that pays 5 per cent
interest on deposits up to a certain amount. The insti-
tution has a library and a monthly periodical. The
Review, containing financial news and office gossip,
which circulates among the employees. The bank ie
ably represented in public with musical, literary, social
and athletic organizations from the staff.
The tradition and aim of the institution has been
to be everybody's bank, and in this it has succeeded
greater than any like institution in the world. New
York's largest bank, the National City bank, may
show a score of persons transacting business at its
counters at the liveliest hours of the day. During bank-
ing hours in the First National bank of Chicago, it is
not unusual to count 200 customers in the office, and at
2 130 in the afternoon its stairways are crowded like the
exits of a popular theater after a performance.
The bank has more than 10,000 regular depositors,
and only by its system of organization could be handled
the extraordinary multiplicity of items that compose
its immense bulk of business. Every day 1 00,000 entries
are made on its books, and 15,000 checks and drafts
on other cities are sent out for collection. The in-mail
department alone, between the hours of 7:30 and 10:30
each morning, disposes of about 4,000 letters, including
deposits in cash, checks and drafts of from $7,000,000
to $10,000,000.
One striking example of the care and system of the
bank is shown by the out-mail department. Though
the annual business of the bank totals up in the billions
of dollars, not a penny must be missing or astray in
the daily footings. Economy in postage alone saves
the bank from $25 to $30 per day. All letters are mailed
after hours. Should a dozen departments find it neces-
sary to write to the same correspondent during one day,
every letter will come to the same mail clerk, and all
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
123
will be finally forwarded in one envelope instead of pay-
ing separate postage for each one.
The main entrance of the First National Bank
building was opened to the public May 15, 1905. It
is one of the most magnificent buildings in the United
States. Its granite walls, facing Dearborn and Monroe
streets, rise eighteen stories in majestic simplicity, the
only ornamentation being slightly projecting sill courses.
A marble hall of Romanic splendor is the interior space
containing the bank. The bank occupies the space
contained in the first three stories. The aggregate
height of these three lower stories is equal to that of an
ordinary five-story building. A cornice supported on
massive Doric pilasters, forty feet high, inclose the
arched openings of the bank proper. Through an
archway the main entrance to the main banking room
leads into the grand central court. This court with its
marble wall and marble seats and crystal plate-glass
dome fifty feet above the floor is one of the most impos-
ing interiors to be found in any land. The court
measures 60 by 90 feet and is surrounded by an arcade.
The main banking room is 230 feet long, 190 feet wide
and 47 feet high, fifteen feet of the height facing the
court being divided off into a secondary floor. There
is one acre of floor space for every story. This space is
divided off into offices and corridors, the corridors on
every floor extending entirely around the building.
The building has a frontage of 231 feet on Monroe
street and 192 feet on Dearborn street, the total area
being 44,274 square feet. Its height is 257 feet. There
are 1,800 windows in the structure and 1,020 doors.
These furnish light and egress and ingress to 983
offices. Like a city within itself the building contains
its own electric lighting plant, the boilers of 800 horse
power furnishing power for the 7,900 electric lights and
for the running of the fourteen elevators. There is a
two-story basement underneath the structure where
are located the power plants, the printing office and
other departments.
Before the Chicago fire in 1871, the bank occupied
quarters at Clark and Lake streets. After that building
was destroyed, it moved to State and Washington
streets, where it remained until 1882. It then moved to
its present location and the new building of which it
took possession was then considered the finest in Chi-
cago. When it was demolished two years ago to make
way for the bank's present home it was more modern
than many office buildings.
E. Aiken was the first president of the bank. After
his death, in 1867, Samuel M. Nickerson succeeded to
the office. Lyman J. Gage became cashier of the bank
when it was reorganized in August. 1868. In 1882
another reorganization took place, and Mr. Gage
advanced to vice-president. A few years later he was
chosen president. He resigned this office to enter
President McKinley's cabinet as Secretary of the
Treasury.
Mr. Nickerson was then re-elected president, but
soon afterwards retired to private life in New York
City. James B. Forgan, the present chief executive of
the bank, succeeded him. The other officers of the First
National are :
Division A — David R. Forgan, vice-president ; E. S.
Thomas, assistant manager.
Division B — George D. Boulton, vice-president ;
Frank E. Brown, assistant manager.
Division C — Howard H. Hitchcock, vice-president ;
Charles N. Gillett, assistant manager.
Division D — Richard J. Street, manager; Frank O.
Wetmore, cashier.
Division E — Holmes Hoge. manager; Charles H.
Newhall, assistant manager.
Division F — August Blum, manager; Herbert W.
Brough, assistant manager.
Orville Peckham, attorney; James D. Woley, assist-
ant attorney; Emile K. Boisot, manager bond depart-
ment; Fred I. Kent, manager, and John J. Arnold,
assistant manager, foreign exchange; M. D. Witkow-
sky, auditor; E. J. Blossom, manager discounts and col-
laterals; H. A. Howland, manager credits and statistics;
William H. Monroe, assistant cashier and manager cleri-
cal and bookkeeping department.
The directors of the bank are : Samuel W. Allerton,
George F. Baker, John H. Barker, A. C. Bartlett, Geo.
D. Boulton, William L. Brown, A. A. Carpenter, Jr.,
D. Mark Cummings, Charles Deering, David R. For-
gan, James B. Forgan, H. H. Hitchcock, James H.
Hyde, Harold F. McCormick, Nelson Morris, Eugene
S. Pike, Henry H. Porter, Jr., Norman B. Ream, John
A. Spoor, Wm. J. Watson, Otto Young.
The Continental National Bank, in its record-break-
ing growth recently overstepped the $50,000,000 mark
in its deposit line and now takes second place among
the national banks of this city.
The era of agricultural prosperity and commercial
and industrial development which began during the
closing years of the last decade and still continues, man-
ifested itself most emphatically in bank clearings and
the phenomenal rise in bank deposits. That the Con-
tinental National Bank has been keenly alive to the
opportunities this condition offered is amply attested
to by the fact that in 1895 its deposits amounted to
only $8,678,000, while in its report to the comptroller
of the currency, January n, 1905, deposits aggregating
$52,000,000 were reported. Through the absorption
of the International Bank and the Globe National
Bank in 1898, and the National Bank of North
America in October, 1904. $16,000,000 of deposits were
added. The remainder, or approximately $27,000,000,
124
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
represents clean gain through sheer force of the most
energetic and intelligent exertions on the part of a
progressive and far-sighted management. "Progress"
has been the watchword which carried this institution
onward in its career and found its scope and expression
in the development of every department. No tradition
was too sacred to be sacrificed in the legitimate exten-
CONTINENTAL NATIONAL BANK.
sion of business, and the winning of new fields. These
efforts remained not without their just reward, for
to-day the bank numbers among its clients banks and
bankers as well as merchants and manufacturers in all
the states and territories of the Union, and takes rank
with the leading financial institutions of the country.
To meet the greater demands created by the growth
of the business, the original capital of $2.000,000 was
increased in April, 1901, to $3,000.000. The recently
published report of the comptroller of the currency
indicated a surplus of $1,000,000 and undivided profits
of $56,739, total deposits $51,905.319, loans, discounts,
stocks and bonds. $33,747.639. and cash and cash
means $22,193,051.
The present staff of officers is as follows: John C.
Black, president ; G. M. Reynolds, vice-president ; N. E.
Barker, vice-president ; Ira P. Bow en, assistant cashier ;
Benjamin S. Mayer, assistant cashier; W. G.
Schroeder, assistant cashier; Herman Waldeck,
assistant cashier; John McCarthy, assistant
cashier.
The Chicago National Bank was organized
January 9, 1882. At the end of the first three
months of activity its deposits amounted to $827,-
536. To-day, after twenty-three years and some
odd months of growth, the deposits amount to
$22,958,845.
During all these years of rapid growth, Mr.
John R. Walsh has been the president of the in-
stitution. His long, active service makes Mr.
Walsh the dean of Chicago's banking fraternity as
a chief executive. Mr. Fred M. Blount, the vice-
president of the institution, is with one exception
the oldest bank official in Chicago in any execu-
tive office.
The growth of the Chicago National Bank has
been a steady and gradual one, coincident with
the general financial growth of Chicago. Its in-
creases have reflected the city's prosperity, and
have been the result of steadily increasing patron-
age to the bank from old and new customers. No
other banking or financial institutions have ever
been merged into the original organization of the
bank, so that its growth has never been accel-
erated by such sudden influxes of capital.
The first organization of the bank was effected
with the following officers: John R. Walsh, presi-
dent : James Adsit, vice-president ; Henry H.
Nash, cashier, and James Adsit, Jr., assistant
cashier. In 1884 the Adsit interests withdrew
from the bank and Henry H. Nash was chosen
vice-president, William Cox became cashier, and
Fred M. Blount, assistant cashier. Mr. Cox left
the bank in 1891, and Mr. Blount succeeded to
the position of cashier, T. M. Jackson becoming
assistant cashier. After the death of Mr. Nash in 1892,
Mr. Blount became vice-president of the institution.
The officers have not changed since that time, and now
are : John R. Walsh, president ; Fred M. Blount, vice-
president; T. M. Jackson, cashier: F. W. McLean, first
assistant cashier, and J. E. Shea, second assistant
cashier.
The directors are: C. K. G. Billings. Fred G-
McNally, Maurice Rosenfeld, John R. Walsh, Fred M.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
125
Blount, John M. Smyth and William Best. Associated
with the Chicago National Bank are the Home Savings
Bank, the Equitable Trust Company and the Chicago
Safe Deposit Company. Six of the seven directors of
the National bank are also directors in both the Savings
bank and the Trust company.
The National bank as well as the Savings bank and
Trust Company, pays interest on accounts of banks,
individuals, firms and corporations. In the Savings
bank, deposits are received for $i or more, and the
interest is compounded semi-annually. The Trust
company performs the usual functions of an executor,
keeping the trust funds and investments separate from
the assets of the company. The Safe Deposit company
CHICAGO NATIONAL BANK.
126
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
vaults in the basement of the banking building are
among the largest and strongest in the world.
The last report, May 29, 1905, of the condition of
the Chicago National Bank showed assets amounting
to $25,431,590.36, of which $12,555,559.68 was in
loans and discounts, and $10,376,142.93 in cash assets.
The capital stock was $1,000,000, with $1,000,000 sur-
plus and $423,345.04 in undivided profits. The deposits
on the same date aggregated $22,,959,845.32.
The completion of the home of the Chicago National
Bank marked the beginning of a new order of architec-
ture in Chicago. When the new building was projected
it was aimed to produce a structure which would be
typical of a bank to even the most casual observer. It
is of the Corinthian style of architecture with four
immense columns fifty feet in height, ornamenting its
facade. The building has a ninety-foot frontage on Mon-
roe street, and is a symbol of solidity and strength.
To a depth of fifty feet the building is four stories
in height. The remaining 138 feet of the lot are covered
by the banking floor, one-story high and roofed entirely
with glass. The first floor of the front section of the
building is occupied by the banking room of the Home
Savings Bank and directors' room and president's office.
On the second and third floors and fourth are the offices
of the Equitable Trust Company, and the legal depart-
ment of the various financial institutions.
The beautiful interior of the main banking room
would make a harmonious setting for the richest of art
galleries, as well as it does for this home of finance and
commercialism. The floors are of Vermont marble and
the counters and bases which enclose three sides of the
room are of mottled green marble. The walls of the
room are paneled with veined Pavanazzo marble from
the quarries of Carrara, Italy.
These beautiful marble panels are matched just as
they were cut from the quarries, and so perfectly do the
tints fit together that each pair seem as if they were
the symmetrical pages of a deep-toned marble book.
In the space between the marble panels and the glass
ceiling are sixteen semi-circular oil paintings repre-
senting scenes and incidents in the history of Chicago
from the time of the Indians to the present day.
In the rear of the banking room are ten immense
vaults in which the money, valuables and records of the
banks are kept. They are three stories in height, and
entirely clear of the outer walls so that they may be
completely encircled by watchmen. The outer walls of
the building are themselves three feet thick.
The Commercial National Bank. The organization
of the Commercial National Bank was begun at a meet-
ing held December 12, 1864. The bank was author-
ized by Hon. Hugh McCulloch, then comptroller of the
currency, to begin business January 13. 1865. Those
who were active in its beginning were P. R. Westfall.
who was the first president of the bank ; R. B. Ennis,
Moses S. Bacon, Charles Ennis, W. H. Ennis and
Nicholas O. Williams. These gentlemen composed its
first board of directors. On May 16, 1866, the follow-
ing additional directors were elected : Henry F.
Eames, Wm. H. Ferry, H. Z. Culver, Henry H. Taylor,
Henry W. King, Alonzo Campbell, Wm. H. Kretzin-
ger, Bacon Wheeler, R. B. Mason and Alfred Cowles,
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COMMERCIAL NATIONAL BANK.
all of whom were representative citizens of Chicago at
that time, and they added greatly to the future success
of the institution. The capital stock paid in was
$200,000 and the report for September. 1866, shows the
deposits at that time to have been $506,302.50. At the
beginning of the next year Mr. Albert Keep and Mr.
E. F. Pulsifer were added to the board of directors and
the capital stock was increased to $500,000.
The growth of the bank was constant and uniform
from the start, and among its customers were manv of
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
127
the most substantial men of the city; all of which was
the direct result of the standing and ability of the men
who stood as the representatives of the institution and
directed its wise and conservative policy.
From time to time important additions were made
to the directory. S. W. Rawson became a director in
1868; D. K. Pearsons in 1873; N. K. Fairbank in 1876;
Franklin McVeagh and George L. Otis in 1880;
Henry Field, O. W. Potter and Jesse Spalding in 1885;
Norman Williams in 1888; Win. J. Chalmers in 1891;
and James H. Eckels, John C. McKeon and Robert T.
Lincoln in January, 1898. Mr. Wm. H. Ferry was
vice-president from May, 1866, to March, 1880, and
George L. Otis from January, 1881, to 1885 ; Mr. Henry
Field from 1885 to 1890; Mr. O. W. Potter from 1890
to 1896.
The office of president was filled continuously by
Mr. Henry F. Fames from 1867 to 1897, and under his
guidance the bank prospered and became one of the
leading financial institutions in Chicago. Deposits
increased during his term from $506,300 to> more than
$9,000,000, and to his wise and careful management,
supported by the directory, is due in a large measure
the success which the bank has enjoyed.
On March 20, 1886, the capital was increased to
$1,000,000, which was done entirely from accumulated
earnings.
On January i, 1898, Mr. James H. Eckels, former
comptroller of the currency, was elected president. The
reputation as a financier which he brought to the insti-
tution caused a marked increase in its business, which
is best shown perhaps by the increase in its deposits
from about $9,000,000, at the time he took charge, to
over $19,000,000 at the close of his second year, as chief
executive. The statement March 14, 1905, shows
a surplus fund of $1,000,000, in addition to the capital
stock of $2,000,000, and undivided profits of $783,-
399-53-
The present officers of the Commercial National
Bank are: James H. Eckels, president; Joseph T. Tal-
bert, vice-president ; Ralph VanVechten, second vice-
president ; David Vernon, third vice-president ; N. R.
Losch, cashier; Geo. B. Smith, assistant cashier; Harvey
C. Vernon, assistant cashier; H. Erskine Smith, assistant
cashier and auditor ; Wm. T. Bruckner, assistant cashier.
The directors are Franklin McVeagh, Chas. F. Spald-
ing, Wm. J. Chalmers, James H. Eckels, Robert T.
Lincoln, E. H. Garry, Paul Morton, Darius Miller and
Jos. T. Talbert.
The Illinois Trust and Savings Bank was organized
May 7, 1873, commencing business on the northwest
corner of Madison and Market streets. The capital
stock at that time was $100,000, and the first president
of the bank was Mr. L. B. Sidway. In 1875 a change of
location was made to Clark street, between Washington
and Madison, and the bank's growth continuing with
increased force, a second change became imperative in
1878, when the quarters so long occupied by the old
Fidelity Bank were taken after the failure of the last-
named institution. During that year President Sidway
retired from the control of the affairs of the bank, and
H. G. Powers assumed the direction of the financial
management. He continued in charge until 1880, when
the present president, John J. Mitchell, was chosen to
succeed him. Under the wise and energetic administra-
tion of President Mitchell the deposits soon reached the
sum of $1,000,000, an excellent showing for that time,
and especially by so comparatively a young concern.
JOHN J. MITCHELL.
Here the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank did a con-
stantly increasing business for ten years, eight of which
were under the active and personal management of
President Mitchell. No better illustration of Mr.
Mitchell's success could be cited than the fact that when
the increased demands for greater facilities, in 1888,
demanded and made imperative a third removal, the
capital stock had been increased to $2,000,000, a sum
twenty times greater than the original capital, and a sur-
plus of $2,500,000 had been accumulated, and at a later
date again increased to $3,000,000. The ground floor of
the Rookery was chosen as the new location, and so
commodious and extensive were these quarters that the
most sanguine friend of the bank would have declared
no further change ever would become necessary. But
such has been the success of the bank, both in its bank-
ing, trust and savings departments, under its present
128
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
efficient management, that even the commodious quar-
ters in the Rookery proved too small. An opportunity
was afforded for the building of a permanent home on
La Salle street, between Jackson and Quincy streets, and
this building, which was completed in the early part of
1897, at a cost of about $600,000, is probably one of the
most complete banking structures in the world.
The statement of the bank issued March 15, 1905,
shows a capital stock of $4,000,000; surplus $5,000,000;
undivided profits of $1,188,033.16 and deposits of $89,-
608,121.70.
ropolitan bank in the United States. Under his man-
agement the institution has attained financial eminence
that falls little, if at all, short of the degree of preemi-
nence. He was born at Alton, in this state, November
3, 1853, and is the son of William H. Mitchell, who for
many years was president of the First National Bank of
that city, and who was one of the earliest and largest
stockholders of the Illinois Trust and Savings Bank,
with the management of which he is still connected.
Though the circumstances of his parents were such
as to render his earlv entrance on a business career
ILLINOIS TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK.
The officers of the bank are as follows: John J.
Mitchell, president: William H. Mitchell, vice-presi-
dent ; W. H. Reid, vice-president ; F. T. Haskell, vice-
president ; Chauncey Keep, vice-president ; B. M.
Chattel!, cashier; J. T. Cooper, F. I. Cooper and E. S.
Layman, assistant cashiers; William H. Henkle, secre-
tary ; F. M. Sills, assistant secretary.
John J. Mitchell. It is often said that genius is not
hereditary. If the rule be sound as a generality, Mr.
Mitchell's career must be taken as an exception to it.
At the time of his election to the office that he how
holds, that of president of the Illinois Trust and Savings
Bank, he was the youngest presiding officer of any met-
unnecessary, the inherited financial tendency of Mr.
Mitchell was so strong as to impel him to follow in his
father's steps ; accordingly, after a common school edu-
cation and a brief period of study in the Waterville,
Maine, Institute, he entered as messenger boy in the
bank of which he is now president. The step was charac-
teristic— he doutless might have gone into the bank, at
least, as clerk, but he preferred to make himself familiar
with every detail of the business. His promotions were
gradual, the functions of teller, cashier and president
having been performed by him. In addition to the
pressing duties of his office in the Illinois Trust and
Savings Bank, Mr. Mitchell acts as director of the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
129
Chicago Stock Exchange and of the Traders' Insurance
Company.
The Merchants' Loan and Trust Company. No
institution can be more justly called a represent-
ative one, or is more closely identified with the city's
financial prosperity, than the Merchants' Loan and
Trust Company, the oldest banking institution in the
state of Illinois. Organized in 1857, at a time when the
monetary circulation of the Northwest consisted mainly
of "wildcat" currency of various degrees of worthless-
ness, and surviving in subsequent
years disasters which proved finan-
cial maelstroms to hundreds of less
fortunate organizations, it has, dur-
ing its forty-eight years of busy
existence, successfully coped with
almost every variety of calamity
known in the annals of banking.
The bank's doors were thrown open
for business in May, 1857, on the
first floor of the old Board of Trade
Building at the corner of Water and
La Salle streets. The state charter
fixed the capital stock at $500,000,
an amount that has since been in-
creased at various times to $3,000,-
ooo. Mr. John H. Dunham was
its first president, and Mr. A. J.
Hammond its first cashier. The
thirteen original trustees were Isaac
N. Arnold. W. E. Doggett. D. R.
Holt, William B. Ogden, John H.
Foster, Walter L. Newberry, Henry
Farnum, Jonathan Burr, George
Steele, J. H. Dunham, F. B. Cooley,
A. H. Burley, and John High-
names that must awaken a host of
recollections to the Chicago resi-
dent of antebellum days.
A coherent account of the old
"wildcat" or "stumptail" currency
troubles, in their relation to the his-
tory of this bank from 1857 to 1862,
would fill a volume. It can, how-
ever, be said that the Merchants'
was from the start a pronounced
and unyielding advocate of the ex-
pulsion of the irresponsible system
of banking which ultimately flooded
the country with so much irredeem-
able currency, and inasmuch as the
trustees possessed the courage to
shape the practical policy and
9
methods of the bank in accordance with their convic-
tions they made enemies. Their path was anything
but a bed of roses, and it is said that more than once
bitter and determined efforts were made to ''down"
the new institution, which, however, stood its ground
bravely and came through these trying periods with
flying colors.
Mr. D. R. Holt, who had taken Mr. Hammond's
place as cashier, resigned in 1862, and was succeeded by
Mr. Lyman J. Gage, later secretary of the treasury, and
Uiiunrftf
MERCHANTS' LOAN AND TRUST COMPANY.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
about tliis time Solomon A. Smith was elected president,
discharging the duties of that office until his death in
1879. Charles Henrotin. who followed Mr. Gage, was
cashier through two calamitous periods — the great fire
of 1871 and the panic two years later. At the time of the
fire all the hooks were burned, but upon resuming busi-
ness a few days later the bank placed to the credit of
each depositor as he appeared the amount he claimed to
have had in its keeping and over 1,000 accounts were
then reopened without a single note of dissatisfaction.
So prosaic and commonplace is the routine of banking
ordinarily that an incident of this kind seems almost
dramatic.
The Merchants' seems to have been a sort of train-
ing school for bankers, for not only Mr. Gage and Mr.
Henrotin received their education behind its counters,
but Mr. M.' D. Buchanan, later cashier of the Commer-
cial Bank, Mr. \Y. M. Scudcler, at the time of his death
cashier of the Hide and Leather Bank, and others who
have won high places in the financial world, were also
identified with this institution at one time or another.
The statement of the Merchants' Loan and Trust
Company, dated March 15, 1905, shows, besides the
capital stock of $3,000,000, a surplus of $3,000,000,
undivided profits of $583,904.06, and deposits of $51,-
547,487.68. The officers are Orson Smith, president ;
E. D. Hulbert, vice-president; J. G. Orchard, cashier;
F. X. Wilder, assistant cashier; F. G. Nelson, assistant
cashier and manager of foreign exchange department.
The directors are: Marshall Field, Albert Keep, Lambert
Tree, Orson Smith, Enos M. Barton, Cyrus H. McCor-
mick, Erskine M. Phelps, Moses J. Wentworth, E. D.
Hulbert, E. H. Gary, T. J. Lefens, Channcey Keep,
Clarence A. Burley. The Merchants' Loan and Trust
Building, at the northwest corner of Clark and Adams
streets, is the home of this company. The building was
finished in May. 1900, and the Merchants' occupies the
entire bank floor with the exception of a portion at the
west end of the building, which is occupied by the
clearing house.
The American Trust and Savings Bank was organ-
ized in 1889 by Gilbert B. Shaw, who was its president
for many years. It first opened its doors on August i
of that year in the Owings building, at the corner
of Dearborn and Adams streets. Two years later it
moved to La Salle and Madison streets, remaining there
until its removal in 1899 to its present location in the
New York Life building. Conservative management
and careful investments have enabled it to extend its
scope gradually, until now it is one of the foremost
financial institutions in the city.
Besides transacting a general banking business this
institution devotes much attention, as its name signifies
to its trust and savings departments. Its expansion
continued until its consolidation with the Federal Trust
Company on May 29, 1905. Its capital was then in-
creased from $2,000,000 to $3,000.000. Its surplus and
undivided profits are $2,004,229.98, and its deposits are
$30,127,616.98.
On May i, 1906, the institution will occupy its own
building at the northeast corner of Monroe and Clark
AMERICAN TRUST AND SAVINGS BANK.
streets, which will be one of the largest in the city. The
building will be eighteen stories high, with 90 feet on
Monroe street and 125 feet on Clark street. The officers
of the bank are as follows: E. A. Potter, president; T.
P. Phillips, vice-president ; James R. Chapman, vice-
president ; John Jay Abbott, vice-president ; Charles S.
Castle, cashier; F. J. Scheidenhelm, assistant cashier;
Oliver C. Decker, assistant cashier; Edwin L. \Yagner.
assistant cashier; Frank H. Jones, secretary; \Yilliam P,
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
1:51
Kopf, assistant secretary ; Irving J. Shuart, assistant
secretary: George B. Calchvell, manager bond depart-
ment ; Wilson W. Lampert, auditor. Its directors are
Joy Morton, E. H. Gary, E. P. Ripley, Theodore P.
Shonts, Norman B. Ream, John F. Harris, T. P.
Phillips, W. H. McDoel, Charles H. Thorne, E. J.
Buffington, William Kent, V. A. Watkins, G. B. Shaw,
Benjamin Thomas, Charles H. Deere, James R. Chap-
man, Edwin A. Potter.
The Northern Trust Company was organized
August 7, 1889. and has taken its place as one of the
soundest and most conservative banking institutions in
ooo. Of pure classic. architecture it will be one of the
most imposing structures in Chicago. The first story
will be of massive layers of stone, forming a solid base
for the Grecian facade of Ionic style of architecture.
Sixteen massive Ionic columns will support the cornice.
The interior plan contemplates the following divi-
sions: The first floor will be reserved for the savings
department, with a grand lobby and grand marble stair-
way leading to the second floor, which will be devoted
to the banking department : the third floor will be given
over to the trust department, and the fourth floor will
be occupied partly by the Chicago Clearing House, and
THE NORTHERN TRUST COMPANY BANK.
the West. It has a capital of $1,500,000 with a surplus
fund of $1,000,000, its capital having been increased
July i, 1905, from one million to one million and a
half. The Northern Trust Company has been located
on the banking floor of the Rookery building, but owing
to the steady increase of its business it is now (1905)
erecting a building of its own at the northwest corner
of La Salle and Monroe streets, upon the site of the old
Bryan block.
This building will be for the exclusive use of the
Northern Trust Company, with its main frontage of
190 feet on La Salle street and a depth of 73 feet on
Monroe. It will comprise four stories with basement
and sub-basement, and will cost approximately $750,-
supply, storage and filing rooms. The convenience of
patrons is especially provided for and when finished the
new building will be one of the handsomest and most
complete structures of its kind in the city. At the close
of business, August 26, 1905, the condition of the bank
was as follows :
Resources. — Time loans on security, $5,859,891.04;
demand loans on security, $7,012,509.23; bonds, $7,-
698,328.99; stocks, $114,815; real estate (northwest
corner La Salle and Monroe streets for bank building),
$850,000; due from banks, $6,876,109.84: checks for
clearings, $760,617.76; cash on hand, $3,910,665.46.
Total, $33,082,937.32.
Liabilities. — Capital stock, $1,500,000; surplus fund,
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
$1,000,000; undivided profits, $702,468.78; dividends
unpaid, $330; interest reserved, $97,568.95; cashiers'
checks, $246,707.54; certified checks, $13,509.51;
demand deposits, $16,119,466.27; time deposits, $13,-
402,886.27. Total, $33,082,937.32.
The officers are : Byron L. Smith, president ; F. L.
Hankey, vice-president; Solomon, A. Smith, second
vice-president; Thomas C. King, cashier; Robert
McLeod, and G. F. Miller, assistant cashiers; Arthur
Heurtley, secretary; Howard O. Edmonds and Harold
H. Rockwell, assistant secretaries; Edward C. Jarvis,
auditor. The directors are: A. C. Bartlett, J. Harley
Bradley, William A. Fuller, Marvin Hughitt, C. L.
Hutchinson, Martin A. Ryerson. Albert A. Sprague,
Solomon A. Smith, Byron L. Smith.
IN. W. Harris & Company, bankers, of Chicago,
New York and Boston, have for their watchword, "con-
servatism.'' This successful firm deals only in high-
grade investment securities, and transacts a general
banking business. It was organized in 1882 by the pres-
ent senior partner, Mr. Norman W. Harris. The firm
has steadily increased its business, always along ultra-
conservative lines, to such an extent that its sales of
bonds now exceed $75,000,000 annually.
The success of N. W. Harris & Company, and the
high esteem in which its judgment on securities is held
by investors, is justified by its record, of which it is
jealously proud. While the firm does not guarantee the
payment of securities handled by it, it stands ready to
devote its best efforts and the ability of its perfect
organization to the protection of its clients' interests.
The firm believes that the responsibility of a reliable
banking house should not end with the marketing of an
issue of bonds. In the event of new and unexpected
developments of an unfavorable character in a prop-
erty, the house should be in a sufficiently strong posi-
tion to assume the entire management, and to protect
the interest of its clients. The knowledge that the
strength and influence of the house will be exercised
in this way is almost as important to the investor as the
ability and care necessary in making original invest-
ments.
The average investor has neither time nor the facil-
ities to make a complete and proper examination of
proposed investments, and in consequence must rely
largely on the judgment of his banker. Realizing this
fact, the conscientious and successful banker should
have in his employ tried and experienced experts, and
a business experience extending over a period of many
years covering times of depression as well as of financial
prosperity. N. W. Harris & Company combine these
important elements of success. Their experience
extends over twenty-two years, during which time
occurred the financial panics in 1893 and 1896. Mr.
Harris was for thirteen years the principal executive
officer of one of the leading life insurance companies
of this country and was largely responsible for its invest-
ments. There are now seven other active partners in
the firm, all men of wide experience in the business and
who have been associated with the house for from ten
to twenty years. The firm's banking houses in Chi-
cago, New York and Boston are each under the direct
supervision of one or more active members of the firm,
who are assisted by an experienced and competent
corps of managers and experts in each department of
the business. The total number of people now giving
N. W. HARRIS.
their entire time to the firm's business is one hundred
and eighty.
In addition to the investment business, N. W. Harris
& Company, in their banking department, transact a
private banking business, pay interest on deposits which,
according to a late statement, amount to $4,926,373.02.
The firm makes loans on collateral, buys and sells for-
eign exchange and issues travelers' letters of credit
available in all parts of the world. Every facility is
afforded its customers for the prompt transaction of
business in this department.
N. W. Harris & Company's Chicago office is on the
banking floor of the Marquette building. 204 Dearborn
street.
Greenebaum Sons is one of the strongest private
banking institutions in Chicago. The house was
founded in 1877, and has continued in business uninter-
ruptedly up to the present time (1905). The banking
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
133
rooms are at 83 and 85 Dearborn street. The members
of Greenebaum Sons are Henry Everett Greenebaum,
Moses E. Greenebaum and James Eugene Greenebaum.
The father, Elias Greenebaum, is one of the pioneer
bankers of Chicago and had been in the business for
twenty-two years when his sons formed their banking
house. He still takes an interest in affairs and main-
tains an office at their place of business. The firm does
a general banking and foreign exchange business, mak-
ing a specialty of negotiating loans on Chicago real
estate and of supplying investors with investment securi-
ties, mortgages, bonds, etc. This firm is well known
in all parts of the world on account of their extensive
foreign connections.
Elias Greenebaum was born at Eppelsheim, Gross-
herzogthum Hessen, Germany, June 24, 1822, the son
of Jacob and Sarah Greenebaum. He was educated in
the public schools and in the agricultural, commercial
and trade schools of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and came
to the United States in September, 1847. F°r a *ew
months he stopped on his way west at Uniontown,
Ohio, but came to Chicago, April 14, 1849, an(l at
present is one of the oldest residents of Chicago, having
lived here over half a century. He entered the mercan-
tile business for himself shortly after coming to Chicago
and prospered from the start. Seven< years afterwards
he became a banker. In 1860 Mr. Greenebaum founded
the banking house of Greenebaum & Foreman, of which
he was the senior member for a number of years. When
the firm of Greenebaum & Foreman was dissolved he
retired from active business. Mr. Greenebaum was
school agent of Chicago in 1856 and is independent in
politics. He was one of the founders of Sinai congre-
gation. He has a handsome residence at 4510 Grand
boulevard. He was married March 3, 1852, to Miss
Rosina Straus. Their children are Henry Everett,
Moses Ernest, Emma E. (Mrs. Gutman), and James E.
Greenebaum.
Henry Everett Greenebaum, the oldest son of Elias
Greenebaum, has had a wide experience in the banking
business. He was born in Chicago, September i, 1854,
and graduated from the Jones School in 1867, and from
the Central High School four years later. He also
attended business college the next year, graduating
from Bryant & Stratton's in 1872. He entered the
employ of the First National Bank in the spring of the
same year, and the next year went with his father's firm,
Greenebaum & Foreman, bankers. In order to get a
wider experience of the business he accepted positions
with New York banks in 1873, remaining there for four
years. On his return to Chicago in 1877, he organized
the banking firm of Greenebaum Sons. Since then he
has occupied a prominent position in the banking, real
estate and loan circles, at present being chairman of the
executive board of the Chicago Real Estate Loan Asso-
ciation, composed of the principal banks and firms in
the business. He is independent in politics and a mem-
ber of the Reformed Jewish Church. He also belongs
to the Standard, Ravisloe Golf and French clubs. He
was married April 15, 1879, to Miss Helen F. Leopold.
Their children are Carrie (the wife of Frank E. Mandel,
of the firm of Mandel Brothers), Walter Jerome and
John G. The family residence is at 3337 Michigan
avenue.
Moses Ernest Greenebaum was born in Chicago
March 17, 1858. He was educated at the public and
high schools of Chicago. He entered his father's bank
after graduating and was admitted to the firm in 1877.
ELIAS GREENEBAUM.
He became a member of Greenebaum Sons the same
year. To his energy and aggressive business methods
is due much of the success of the house. He is a mem-
ber of the. Chicago Real Estate Board, the United
Hebrew Charities and the Standard and Ravisloe clubs.
He is a Republican. He was married to Miss Julia
Friedman of Chicago, December 23, 1884. They have
three children, Eleanor E., Ernest M. and Edgar M.
Their home is at 4504 Drexel boulevard.
James Eugene Greenebaum, the third member of
Greenebaum Sons, was born April 3, 1866. He was
educated in the public schools of Chicago and at Yale
University, being graduated from this institution with
the degree of Ph. B. in 1886. He entered the banking
house of Greenebaum Sons just after his gradua-
tion and was admitted as a partner a few years later.
He is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the
Standard and Yale clubs. He was married to Miss
134
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
Amy B. Kramer, September 7, 1893. They have three
children, Frederic J., Charles J. and Edith J. The
family residence is at 4508 Grand boulevard.
John Burnett Russell, head of the well-known bank-
ing firm of J. B. Russell & Company, was born at Hart-
wick, Otsego County, New York, January 8, 1869. His
JOHN BURNETT RUSSELL.
parents were John Emory and Belle (Burnett) Russell.
He was educated in the grammar schools of his own
city and later at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, Penn-
sylvania.
Mr. Russell has been in the banking business since
1886. In that year he went to work for the Wyoming
National Bank of Wilksbarre, Pennsylvania. He
remained with this institution until 1895 when he estab-
lished the banking house of J. B. Russell & Company
in Wilksbarre and Scranton, Pennsylvania. The busi-
ness of the firm grew rapidly and houses were estab-
lished in New York, Chicago, Reading and Carbondale.
Pennsylvania, Binghamton, New York and Dayton.
Ohio. The concern has financed a number of extensive
public utility corporations, the most prominent among
them being the Illinois Tunnel Company of Chicago
and the Automatic Electric Company, also of this city.
The entire capital for financing these two large enter-
prises was raised through J. B. Russell & Company.
For a long time, while the tunnels were building in
Chicago, there was much speculation as to where the
millions were coming from. In due time, when the
enterprise had been carried to a successful conclusion,
the real backers were made known.
J. B. Russell & Company at the present time are
the financial representatives of a number of large cor-
porations and transact a general banking and stock
exchange business. The associate partners of Mr. Rus-
sell are Albert G. Wheeler. Jr., and John M. Shaw of
New York, both of whom are members of the New-
York Stock Exchange, and Grant Pelton of Scranton,
Pennsylvania. The main offices of J. B. Russell & Com-
pany are at 46 Wall street, New York. The Chicago
offices are in the Rookery.
Mr. Russell was married to Miss Fannie J. Schooley
of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, in 1892. They have
three children, Louise, Joseph and John B., Jr. Mr.
Russell is well known in club life in Chicago, New York
and Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Union
League, Lawyers' and City Mid-day clubs of New York ;
of the Calumet, Midlothian and Exmoor clubs of Chi-
cago, and of the Westmoreland and Wyoming Valley
Country Club of Wilksbarre, the Scranton Club of
Scranton, Pennsylvania, and numerous other organ-
izations.
A. P, Ballou, capitalist, is a representative type of
the young, enterprising and progressive business men
who have made Chicago famous. Barely thirty years
A. P. BALLOU.
old, his position in the world of finance and business is
one that is rarely attained by men until they have passed
the middle span of life, even in hustling, bustling Chi-
cago. Amos Percy Ballou was born in Bradford,
Miami County, Ohio, October 24, 1874. His father.
Horace Martin Ballou, conducted and edited the Brad-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
135
ford Free Press for many years. When lie was nine
years old his father died and the family moved to Cov-
ington, Ohio, where the boy attended the common
schools. At the age of fifteen he entered upon a course
of study in the West Side Commercial School of
this city.
He began his business career with the Henry Sears
Cutlery Company, but finding that uncongenial, he
entered the real estate business with E. F. Jacobs. He
was given charge of Evergreen Park subdivision, which
he conducted so ably that it soon developed into a
thriving and beautiful suburb. With characteristic
energy Mr. Ballon took a lively interest in the affairs of
the village he had helped to create. He established
and edited the local paper, and was chosen village
treasurer on the Republican ticket. His real estate
transactions naturally brought him into close relations
with the insurance business, and he was offered the
position of general agent of the Royal Union Mutual
Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, Iowa. This
agency he successfully handled for two years, when he
was induced to make investments in some Butte, Mon-
tana, mining properties. This led him to an investiga-
tion and study of mines and mining generally, and
discovering in it a pursuit for which he was eminently
fitted, he soon abandoned all other business and gave his
entire attention to this line of endeavor. He is secre-
tary and treasurer of the International Copper & Gold
Mining Company, of Arizona and Mexico; secretary
and treasurer of the Montana Copper & Gold Mining
Company of Wyoming ; secretary and treasurer of the
Santa Fe Copper & Gold Company of Arizona and
Mexico; president of the Santa Cruz Mining Company
and treasurer of the Southern Sonora Development
Company of Mexico, besides having a close connection
and exercising a powerful influence in several other
companies.
To quote Mr. Ballou : "Old Mexico is the great-
est field of mineral wealth known to man."
In 1894 Mr. Ballou married Clara May Ruhl, of
Covington, Ohio. He is connected with several literary
organizations, in which he takes considerable interest.
He is a member of the Colonial Club, a Mason, Knight
Templar and Mystic Shriner. He is a member of the
Forty-first Street Presbyterian Church. Mr. and Mrs.
Ballou have one child, a daughter, six years old.
Robert C. Sturgeon, secretary-treasurer of the F.agle
Mining & Improvement Company, was born near Pitts-
burg in 1862. He received an academic education and
at the early age of sixteen became a teacher in the public-
schools. Mr. Sturgeon entered commercir.l life at the
age of eighteen with a prominent Pittsburg firm, and
in 1885 came to Chicago determined to be "some-
body." He had eminent success. He was associated
with Xelson Morris & Company for several years, dur-
ing which he took a law course in the night school of
the Lake Forest University. He was admitted to the
bar in 1896, and during his subsequent six years of law
practice conducted successfully many important cases
in the Chicago and Cook County courts.
Early in the year of 1902 Mr. Sturgeon became inter-
ested in the Eagle Mining and Improvement Company,
and at present he holds the responsible position of busi-
ness manager and shares in the controlling interest of the
concern, which will soon rank among the best paying
mines in the world. The Eagle mines are by mining
experts considered on par with the Homestake mine
and other bonanzas. The company was in need of an
ROBERT C. STURGEON.
energetic man to finance and manage it when Mr. Stur-
geon entered the corporation. Through his efforts the
Eagle Mining and Improvement Company has become
an assured success. Having satisfied himself of the
unlimited possibilities of the mines, and ambitious to
make it one of the foremost mines in the United States,
Mr. Sturgeon has maintained the almost unequaled
growth of the concern. At present a plant with a ca-
pacity of 150 tons per day is in full operation on the
mine, which is located at Parsons, New Mexico. Up
to the moment Mr. Sturgeon became interested in the
mine, the thought of his becoming a mining man never
occurred to him. Before he decided upon his life's work
he visited the mining region with expert engineers and,
because of the almost incredible reports of the high qual-
ity of the property, he decided to devote his entire time
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to the new enterprise. The present shareholders com-
prise a small circle of prominent business men who
implicitly confide in the leadership and management of
Mr. Sturgeon, and his partner, Mr. Rice.
The Parsons mine compares favorably with the larg-
est in the world, with its three fifty-ton unit mills, which
means an output rendering a net profit of $300 per day.
Mr. Sturgeon is a member of the Illinois Athletic
Club and is a very popular man in commercial and pro-
fessional circles. He declares he is the "kind of a Demo-
crat any citizen ought to be, as he voted twice for
McKinley and twice for Roosevelt."
Howard H. Hoyt, western superintendent of the
Equitable Life Assurance Society, in a few years has
taken first rank in the insurance field. In May, 1902,
HOWARD H. HOYT.
when he took charge of the Chicago office, the entire
Illinois business did not exceed $4,000,000 a year. Be-
fore the close of 1904 Chicago had passed the $2,000,000
a month class and headed the list for the month of all
the society's agencies in the United States.
It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this
achievement, one of the greatest in the history of life
insurance. But great things were expected of Mr.
Hoyt. There were far older men in insurance work.
There were men of greater experience, but Mr. Hoyt
had the reputation of doing things. In two years, be-
fore coming to Chicago, he had increased the volume
of business in Wisconsin from $380.000 to $3.000,000
a year, which in itself was a notable achievement.
When the officers of the society looked around for a
man who could raise Illinois from the dead, it was
inevitable that they should select the leader who had
worked such a miracle in Wisconsin. At this time,
May, 1902, the entire volume of Illinois business did
not exceed $4,000,000 a year, although the Chicago
field is naturally one of the richest in the United States.
In the monthly statement showing the relative rank
of the fifty leading Equitable agencies in the country,
up to this time Chicago rarely, if ever, appeared.
The wisdom of Mr. Hoyt's selection was at once
apparent. The first month after his appointment to so
responsible a position Chicago took its place on the
fifty list, never again to be ousted. Then the agency
began to move steadily and swiftly toward the top.
In less than one year the volume of business doubled.
Two strenuous years passed, and this agency, whose
annual business had been only $4,000,000, took its place
in the $2,000,000 a month class. Before the close of
the year 1904, Chicago headed the list for the month
and when the report of the year's business was finally
made, Chicago actually led all the agencies of the
United States. Mr. Hoyt had "made good," to use
an expressive colloquialism, and Chicago had come
into its own.
Even a superficial student of these changes must
attribute the enormous growth of Chicago business
largely to the personality of Mr. Hoyt. That he is an
able organizer and a good judge of men is evident,
talents greatly needed in perfecting the Illinois organi-
zation. But the real secret of his strength seems to be
the spirit of loyalty which he has been able to infuse
into the men, from the general manager to the humblest
salesman in the field.
In his Wisconsin work he showed still another side
of his genius. Much of the increase in the volume of
business there was due to his personal efforts. Al-
though a comparatively new man in the work, he made
a record for writing insurance second to none in the
United States. There, too, he established the same
personal relations with his men. When he came to
leave the field to take the superintendency in Chicago
there was a notable gathering in Milwaukee at which
the retiring manager was presented with a beautiful
loving cup, as evidence of the esteem of his associates.
On Christmas eve, 1904, an elegant gold Swiss watch,
appropriately engraved, was given to him by the men
who have been accomplishing such wonders under his
leadership.
The remarkable rise of Mr. Hoyt in the insurance
firmament demonstrates what can be done by an earnest
consecration of talent to this great work. He was
born in Madison, Wisconsin, May 29, 1857. His ele-
mentary education in the public schools was followed
by a course in the University of Wisconsin and a sub-
sequent course in the law school of the same institution.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
137
After his graduation, in 1879, ne practiced law five
years in Wausau, Wisconsin. He then removed to
Milwaukee and established an original credit system.
In 1898, becoming convinced of the unusual opportuni-
ties in life assurance work, he accepted an appointment
as general agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life In-
surance Company. Such was his record that in two
years the Equitable Life made him general manager for
the state of Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
Now, as the western superintendent of the strongest
financial institution on earth, he is in the fullness of
his powers and at the outset of his career. The society
secured new quarters in the magnificent First National
Bank building and in May, 1905, took possession of
the finest offices in the West.
Mr. Hoyt is also widely known in insurances circles
because of his contributions to insurance literature.
His published lecture. The Making of An Insurance
Salesman, delivered at the Association Auditorium in
Chicago, and his series of pamphlets on insurance
topics have been in great demand by managers and
field men in all parts of the United States.
The Federal Life Insurance Company. For many
years the financial and commercial giants of this
great city have desired the establishment of a
legal reserve life insurance company. They realized it
would be an influential factor in the growth and develop-
ment and prosperity of the large and rapidly developing
area of country tributary to Chicago. They realized
that the influence which the great life insurance com-
panies of New York City had exercised upon the finan-
cial supremacy of that city would be duplicated by the
establishment in Chicago of a legal reserve company
which would command the confidence and support of
the general public. Many meetings were held by our
public spirited financiers with the view of establishing
such a company. These meetings developed the fact
that great ability, zeal, continuous effort and fidelity to
such a company if established were necessary in order
to place the company in the commanding position which
they desired, and in order that the company should have
the unquestioned confidence, the unqualified support
and the liberal patronage of the general public.
In 1900, after very careful consideration, the Federal
Life Insurance Company was organized as a legal
reserve company, untainted with any of the erroneous
ideas of assessmentism, and so carefully were its officers
and representatives selected, and so ably and faithfully
have they exercised the trusts reposed in them, that the
company from its incipiency has commanded the confi-
dence and patronage of the insurance buying public to
such an extent that its success has been almost phe-
nomenal. December 31, 1904, at the end of its fifth
year (being a little more than four and a half years of
actual operation), the company has accomplished more
than many of its larger and older competitors in from
ten to thirty years of their existence. At the date in
question it had over $8,000,000 of insurance in force,
over $700.000 of assets and a rapidly increasing surplus.
It is rapidly increasing its able representatives, and dur-
ing each month of the present year is writing approxi-
mately 200 per cent more of insurance than it wrote
during the corresponding month of last year.
The Federal never for a minute has deviated a single
iota from correct underwriting principles. It has "hewn
strictly to the line" that has been approved by time-tried
actuarial science, and as a result is stable from the bot-
I. M. HAMILTON.
torn of its foundation up. The company has made a
specialty of paying all just claims promptly and imme-
diately upon receipt of completed proofs of death. The
investments of the company have been made with great
care, and its assets are worth at least one hundred cents
on the dollar.
Senator Isaac Miller Hamilton, who was born in
Iroquois County, Illinois, and resided within four miles
of his birthplace until 1889, when he removed to this
city, is one of the best known and liked lawyers and
bankers in this state. Energetic, forceful and consider-
ate, he surrounds himself with able men and always
makes conspicuous successes of his efforts. Upon the
organization of the Federal he accepted the presidency
of the company, and has devoted his entire time and
talents to its service ever since. Associated with Presi-
138
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
dent Hamilton in the management of the company are
the following strong and able men : C. A. Atkinson,
vice-president and counsel ; George M. Bard, second
vice-president; S. H. Levy, fourth vice-president and
assistant superintendent of agencies ; R. M. Wilbur, sec-
retary; W. E. Brimstin, assistant secretary; J. L. Hamil-
ton, treasurer; E. M. Potter, assistant treasurer; Miles
M. Dawson, consulting actuary ; J. P. Mahoney, assist-
ant counsel: F. I.. B. Jenney, medical director; Jasper
E. Brady, superintendent of agencies. The manage-
ment of the company has been economical, progressive
and courageous, and the results secured are highly grat-
ifying to the policyholders, stockholders and officials.
The success of the company illustrates what the Chi-
cago "I will" spirit, combined with able, earnest, con-
tinuous effort, will accomplish. The company always
has believed in the thought that the la-
borer is worthy of his hire, and has had
no "soft snaps" anywhere for anyone.
The company's policy has been to pay
low salaries, give small commissions, in-
vite publicity and give to the policy
holder the greatest returns possible for
his investment. The company's head-
quarters always have been in the Mar-
quette building. Dearborn and Adams
streets, and there the work of the agen-
cies in the various parts of the country-
is directed. The growth of the business
has compelled the company to occupy
additional space from time to time asi
the necessary employees have in-
creased. There is no busier center in
this busy city than the home office of
the Federal Life Insurance Company.
The company has a paid-up capital
of $150.000, of which amount $100,000
is and always has been on deposit with
the State Insurance Department, as an
initial protection to its policy holders.
The officers of the Federal, who have
labored so hard for the success of the
company, feel entirely justified in assert-
ing, with a great deal of pleasure, that
there is no better company on earth,
none which issues better policy con-
tracts, none which pays its death claims
more promptly, none in which the pol-
icy holder may carry with more safety
his protection for his loved ones or his
investment for himself.
The National Life Insurance Com-
pany of the United States of America.
The growth of the National Life In-
surance Company, whose home office is in Chicago,
in the National Life building, has been surpris-
ingly rapid. The most marked progress has been made
under the present management, which dates from Feb-
ruary, 1904. The National Life was established in
1868; up to 1900 its growth wras gradual. In 1900 its
assets were but $2,335.000, and its insurance in force
a trifle over $14,000,000. Two years later these items
had increased to $3,000,000 and $24,400,000 respect-
ively. At the close of 1903 the assets were $4,700,000
and the insurance in force $40,000,000. After the
election of P. M. Starnes as president, measures were
taken to push the company, and the following year,
while the insurance in force had only increased to
$42,000,000, the assets were $5,250,000, in round
figures. The premium income increased from $338,000
Mill
a H in
NATIONAL LIFE BUILDING.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
139
in 1900 to $1,690,000 in 1904; and the amount paid to
policy holders increased from $164.000 to $500.000 for
the same years.
The assets of the National Life are represented by
strong collateral. The aggregate outstanding first
mortgage loans, the safest form of investment and
upon which better rates of interest are paid in the
West than the East, was slightly over $1,600,000
in December, 1904, which sum was secured by
property valued at over $5,000,000. The bonds and
stocks, on the same date, had a market value of $2,480,-
000. The remaining assets, valued at $871,000, con-
sisted of cash and miscellaneous loans to policy holders.
At the beginning of the current year the company's
policy holders numbered 39,355: of this number 15,465
were in Illinois, and over n,ooo in the city of Chicago.
The premium income in Illinois alone was $471,800 for
1904, an increase of $96,000 over the previous year.
The total income from all sources during the year was
$1.968,000 for 1904, and the total disbursements only
$1,289,000.
As can be seen from the figures, the company's
growth has been healthiest since the accession of Mr.
Starnes to the presidency. Mr. Starnes is a native of
Hancock county, Illinois, where he was born January
1, 1863. He received a public, high school and business
college education, and then studied law. After practic-
ing in Kansas for nine years he entered the insurance
business, accepting an agency for one of the big eastern
companies. After becoming state manager for several
concerns, he organized the National Life & Trust Com-
pany of Des Moines, Iowa. In 1903 this was merged
with the National Life, Mr. Starnes becoming vice-
president and general manager of the united companies.
In February, 1904, he was made president. Though
one of the youngest, Mr. Starnes is recognized to be one
of the ablest, insurance men in the country.
A. M. Johnson, the vice-president and treasurer, is
a young man. He was graduated from Cornell Univer-
sity in 1895. He was associated with his father in
western railroad interests for a number of years. He
became affiliated with the National Life in 1902, when
he purchased a block of the stock. He is connected
with a number of big enterprises in Chicago. Julian
C. Harvey, the second vice-president, son of the late
Augustus Ford Harvey, the eminent actuary, was con-
nected with the Missouri insurance department, and was
assistant secretary of the Covenant Mutual Life for seven
years. He is a graduate of Washington University of
St. Louis and an actuary by profession. Robert E.
Sackett, secretary, is a native of Pittsford, New York.
He was secretary of the Iowa Life Insurance Company
from 1894 to 1900, and secretary of the National Life
since the latter date. The board of directors of the Na-
tional Life follows : Edward A. Shedd, director, Corn
Exchange bank, Chicago ; Albert M. Johnson, president.
Fidelity Safe Deposit Company, of Chicago, and director
of Broadway Savings & Trust Company, Cleveland ;
Charles B. Shedd, director, Knickerbocker Ice Com-
pany, Chicago ; George A. Gilbert, manager Employers'
Liability Assurance Corporation ; Abner Smith, former
judge of the circuit court, Chicago ; James H. Stowell,
P. M. STARNES.
physician, Chicago; Stewart Goodrell, ex-insurance
commissioner of Iowa ; P. M. Starnes, Julian C. Har-
vey and Robert E. Sackett.
The home of the National Life, at 159 La Salle
street, is one of the handsomest office buildings in the
United States. It is the center of the Chicago insurance
world, housing more insurance concerns than any
other building in the city. The National Life occupies
the entire ninth floor.
Joseph H. Lenehan, general agent for the Phoenix
Insurance Company of Brooklyn and a well-known
figure among the Chicago underwriters, was born at
Dubuque, Iowa, where he received his early education
in the public schools. He entered the insurance busi-
ness there in 1880 as local agent. Five years later he
was made manager of the Will County Insurance Com-
pany. From 1887 to 1892 he was Illinois state agent for
the Insurance Company of North America and the
Pennsylvania Fire. After assisting in the organization
of the Palatine's western department, with which he
was identified until 1898, he was appointed assistant
manager of the western department of the North British
140
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
and Mercantile. In July, 1899, he joined the Phoenix
as assistant general agent, becoming general agent in
May, 1900.
Mr. Lenehan was married in 1883 to Margaret I..
Littleton of Dubuque. They have three children liv-
JOSEPH H. LENEHAN.
ing, Margaret L., Francis L. and Mary Calesta Lene-
han. They reside at 4515 Greenwood avenue. Mr.
Lenehan is a member of the Chicago Athletic Associa-
tion, the Union League Club, the Washington Park
Club, the Kenwood Club and the Glenview Golf Club.
J. Elliott Jennings, president of the real estate com-
pany that bears his name, and one of the most successful
operators in Chicago, was born April 5, 1869, in the
extreme backwoods of Arkansas, in a little log house
about twelve or fourteen feet square, and worked on a
farm during his early life. At the age of seven he
plowed corn, split rails at ten, and at the age of eleven
removed with his parents to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
There the drudgery of farm work was replaced by that
of sawing, splitting and hauling wood, for which his
earlier experience had adapted him. When he reached
the age of fourteen he sought for more lucrative
employment and started clerking in a store at Eureka
Springs.
This was too commonplace for him, howrever, and
he went with some others to Carterville, Missouri, and
worked in the mines for a time. He then returned to
Arkansas and, at the age of seventeen, entered the State
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
He came north in 1889, and engaged in various pur-
suits, finally entering the office of one of Chicago's
leading real estate firms. After having thoroughly
familiarized himself with the business, he started in the
real estate, renting and loan business on his own
account at 100 Washington street, Chicago, in 1894.
In the same year he was married to Miss Mae DaMond
at Terre Haute, Indiana. After several years of strenu-
ous work in the real estate, renting and loan business at
100 Washington street, he was selected, as one of the
most competent and versatile real estate men in Chi-
cago, to take the management of the real estate and real
estate loan department of one of Chicago's down-town
banks. Mr. Jennings consolidated his business with
that of the bank and managed the real estate loan
department on a partnership basis for several years.
In 1903, having tried out some of his theories con-
cerning real estate loans and having found them worka-
ble, he organized and incorporated the Jennings Real
Estate Loan Company, of which he is president and is
the controlling factor. The Jennings Real Estate Loan
Company is the most progressive and ably managed
institution of its kind in the West.
Mr. Jennings lives in Evanston, has one son ten
years of age, and is a member of all the Evanston clubs,
J. ELLIOTT JENNINGS.
and also the Glenview Golf Club. He is an expert
golfer, a good horseman and an automobilist. He is a
good example of what can be done by forcible, energetic
and honest effort. Mr. Jennings is only thirty-six
years of age, but he has accomplished more in a busi-
ness way, perhaps, than many men have done in a life-
time.
CHAPTER XX.
BOARD
O F
TRADE.
HE Board of Trade typifies Chi-
cago as no other institution in
the city. It has made Chicago the
food supply center of the world. It
is the main factor in fixing the
prices of grain and provisions for
the civilized nations of the earth.
Its name is synonymous with en-
ergy and progress. To the move-
ment started over half a century
ago by the founders of the Board of Trade may be
traced the commercial greatness of Chicago. As the
gateway for the flood of products from the farms and
ranges of the Mississippi Valley and the West, the city
stands as a monument to the foresight of the founders
and the energy and integrity of their followers.
Through the same gateway sweeps the flood of com-
merce that supplies the rich markets created by the
granger wealth, and makes Chicago rank even greater,
as the chief distributing point of the nation.
The Chicago Board of Trade had its beginning on
March 13, 1848, when a group of business men gathered
for the purpose of organizing an exchange by which
they would be able to control and regulate their business
affairs. From that date on, the Board of Trade has
been a distinctive feature and influence in the business
life of Chicago. The following firms signed the call for
the first meeting of fifty-five years ago : Wadsworth,
Dyer & Chapin, Geo. Steele, I. H. Burch & Co., Gurnee,
Hayden & Co., H. H. Magie & Co., Neff & Church,
John H. Kinzie, Norton, Walker & Co., DeWolf & Co.,
Thos. Richmond, Thos. Hale, Chas. Walker and Ray-
mond Gibbs & Co. As a result of the meeting resolu-
tions were drawn up and adopted, setting forth the
benefits to be derived from a Board of Trade, and the
need for such an organization. Committees were
appointed to effect the organization and a meeting was
141
held in April, at which resolutions and by-laws were
adopted. Officers were elected as follows : Thos. Dyer,
president : Chas. Walker and John P. Chapin, vice-
presidents; W. L. Whiting, secretary, and Isaac H.
Burch, treasurer. The first board of directors follows:
Gurdon S. Hubbard, Elisha S. Wadsworth, Thomas
Richmond, John Rogers, Horatio G. Loomis, George
F. Foster, Richard C. Bristol, John H. Dunham,
Thomas Dyer, George A. Gibbs, John H. Kinzie, Cyre-
nius Beers, Walter S. Gurney, Josiah H. Reed, Edward
K. Rogers, Isaac H. Burch, Augustus H. Burley, John
S. Read, William B. Ogden, Orrington Lunt, Thomas
Hale, Edward H. Hadduck, Isaac V. Germain, Laurin
P. Hilliard.
The roll of members for the first year contains
names that have become famous in the history of the
citv. It follows :
Beals, Joseph R.
Beers, Cyrenius
Blaikie, Andrew
Brand, Alexander
Bristol, Richard C.
Brown, S. Lockwood
Burch, Isaac H.
Burley, Augustus H.
Carpenter, James H.
Carter, Thomas B.
Case, J. R.
Chapin, John P.
Clarke, W. H.
Cobb, Zenas Jr.
DeWolf, A. V. G.
DeWolf, William F.
Dodge, John C.
Drew, George C.
Dunham, John H.
Dyer, Thomas
Foster, George F.
Foster, Jabez H.
Gage, Jared
Germain, Isaac V.
Gibbs, George A.
Gurney, Walter S.
Hadduck, Edward H.
Haines, John C.
Hale, Thomas
Hardy, Isaac
Harmon, C. L.
Harrison, H. H.
Higginson, Geo. M.
High, John Jr.
Hilliard, L. P.
Hotchkiss, J. P.
Hubbard, Gurdon S.
Humphrey, D.
King, John Jr.
Kinzie, John H.
Laflin, Matthew
Loomis, H. G.
Lunt, Orrington
Marsh, John L.
Marsh, Sylvester
Morgan, T. S.
Neely, Albert
Ogden, Wm. B.
Pardee, Theron
Parker, Thos. L.
Payson, H. R.
Pearson, John
Peck, James
Raymond, B. W.
Read, John S.
Reed, Josiah H.
Richmond, Allen
Richmond, Thomas
Robb, G. A.
Rochester, Jas. H.
Rogers, E. K.
Rogers, John
Rumsey, Julian S.
Russell, J. B. F.
Ryerson, Joseph T.
Sherman, O.
Shoemaker, Jno. W.
Smith, George
Smith, J. A.
Stearns, M. C.
Steel, George
Stockbridge, F. B.
Thompson, Thomas
Throop, Amos G.
Wadsworth, E. S.
Walker, Almond
Walker, Charles
Walter, Joel C.
Whitcomb, T.
Whitney, W. L.
Winn, James
Winslow, H. J.
Sessions of the Board were held from then on daily
in a small office about twenty feet square at 8 Dear-
CITY dF CHICAGO.
born street. The trading hour was between eleven and
twelve o'clock.
There were no railroads and very little lake traffic
at that time, most of the produce and grain arriving in
the city by wagons. Trading on the new exchange was
for this reason very light, and transactions far between.
The opening of the Illinois and Michigan canal brought
a larger grain growing territory in touch with Chicago,
was far from satisfactory, and the members decided to
make an effort to increase and facilitate it by getting
telegraphic communication with eastern markets. The
trading hour was changed to nine o'clock in the morn-
ing, and new and larger quarters were secured on the
corner of Fifth avenue and South Water street. During
the next year a further advance was made by having
the Board of Trade incorporated. This temporary boom
BOARD OF TRADE BUILDING.
and caused a large boom in the shipments in wheat and
corn to the city. Not long after this the Galena & Chi-
cago Union Railroad started in business, and brought
more shipments here. The first year, however, of the
Board of Trade \vas a quiet and uneventful one. At
the first annual meeting in April, 1849, a'l tne °'d
officers were elected, excepting W. L. \Yhiting, in whose
place John C. Dodge became secretary.
The nature and the bulk of the business the first year
was, however, short-lived, and during the next year, in
1851, little interest was taken in the new exchange. In
fact, days would pass when not a single member would
attend. Various expedients were adopted to stimulate
interest. One of these was to set up a free lunch.
Liberal supplies of beer, cheese and crackers made the
exchange for a time quite popular, and the attendance
was comparatively large. Some of the present members
still recall the free lunch campaign, and have lived to see
THE CITY Or CHICAGO.
143
the day when memberships of the Board are worth
$4,500, and the floor, and even the visiting galleries, are
crowded daily.
Things continued in a rather perfunctory way until
the fourth annual meeting in April, 1853. The mem-
bership roll at that time contained fifty-three names.
Another year of struggle followed, but in 1854 the
exchange came into its own. The wave of prosperity
that started at that time has continued ever since. The
railroads began to build into Chicago and the lake car-
riers rapidly grewr in number. The settlement and
cultivation of millions of acres to the west and northwest
and the geographical position of the city at the head of
the lakes have all contributed to make Chicago the
greatest grain and produce market in the world. The
first shipment of wheat in 1838 comprised 78 bushels.
In twenty years the trade had increased to 8,500,000
bushels. The first shipment brought 38 cents a bushel.
The highest price between this and 1845 was 55 cents,
while the average price for the next nine years was
close to 60 cents a bushel. The Crimean war sent the
prices for American grain soaring. In 1854, 1855 and
1856, the prices went to over $1.00 a bushel, rising as
high as $1.31 at one time.
The exchange moved its quarters in 1855 to the
corner of South Water and La Salle streets. It occupied
the entire third floor, and during the next year 167 new
members were added. The trading in futures \vas
begun, but it was hardly what might be called a specu-
lative trade. In 1859 another boom struck the wheat
trade. The Austro-Sardinian war sent the prices for
red winter wheat soaring to $1.73, and for spring
wheat to $1.30. This was the real beginning of the
boom times for the Chicago Board of Trade. ' Grain
and produce began to pour into Chicago in large and
ever-increasing quantities. The establishment of the
stockyards and packing houses added to the growth of
the Board of Trade. The city was also rapidly advancing
in population and commercial importance. About this
time the Board of Trade moved to the second floor of
the Chamber of Commerce building at La Salle and
Washington streets. Then followed the Civil war
period in which the wild speculations in gold and grains
still further increased the business of the board. The
great fire of 1871 wiped out the Chamber of Commerce
building. On the Monday following, the Board of
Trade met on Canal street, between Washington and
Madison, and passed resolutions urging the owners of
the Chamber of Commerce building to erect at once a
larger and more expensive structure. The members
also voted a large amount of money for the relief of
the destitute, and in a few days resumed its sessions
as usual, remaining in these quarters until the construc-
tion of a temporary building at Market and Washington
streets. When the Chamber of Commerce was rebuilt
the Board of Trade moved to its quarters there in 1872.
The importance and growth of the exchange continued
uninterrupted until the early 8o's, when the need of a
building of its own became more apparent, and it was
decided to build the present magnificent structure. In
1884 the final move was made to its present home, the
Board of Trade carrying with it to that section of the
city much of the grain, banking and brokerage business
of Chicago.
The Board of Trade has always taken a leading part
in the great patriotic and civic movements in Chicago.
During the war it led the patriotic sentiment that fired
the city. It fitted out the Board of Trade battery and
two regiments of infantry, and presented them fully
armed and equipped to the government. During the
war these soldiers were carefully looked after by the
Board of Trade. In addition to this the Board contrib-
uted largely to the organizations of the Mercantile bat-
tery, and did much towards supplying hospital stores
and other supplies. Captain Stokes of the Board of
Trade batter}', and a member of the exchange was
credited by General Rosecrantz with saving the day at
Stone River. The captain of Taylor's battery, another
Board of Trade member, also made an excellent record.
In fact, no military organization during that terrible
conflict acquitted themselves with more credit than did
those equipped and organized by the Chicago traders.
The history of the Board of Trade since 1854 is one of
continued prosperity. Its transactions run into the
millions of bushels daily, while its quotations dominate
the markets of the world. There have been periods of
wild and persistent speculation, but this has rather
tended to help than to still legitimate business. The
farmers of the country have profited by many millions
by the efforts to control the markets for wheat and
corn, as well as for the products of the packing houses.
Most of the corners attempted on the Board of Trade
have been disastrous failures.
Among those who have filled the office of secretary
of the Board of Trade, the names of Charles Randolph
and George F. Stone, the present incumbent of office,
stand out prominent. Secretary Randolph held that
office through the great fire, and for sometime after-
wards. Mr. Stone has filled the position for the last
twenty-one years, and has done much by his tact, ability
and wisdom to add to the good name and fame of the
Chicago Board of Trade.
The present officers of the exchange are : William
S. Jackson, president ; Walter Fitch, first vice-president ;
John H. Jones, second vice-president ; G. F. Stone, sec-
retary; E. A. Hamil. treasurer. The board of directors
follows : John B. Adams, Kmil W. Wagner, Robert
Bines, Geo. W. Patten, Walter Comstock, Paul Tiet-
144
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
gens, J. Herbert Ware, A. Stamford White, John T.
Sickel, James Crighton, Hiram N. Sager, J. Finley
Barrell, John F. Harris, Edward Andrew, James
Bradley.
The Albert Dickinson Company was organized in
1888, succeeding the business of Albert Dickinson, the
latter of which was the outgrowth of a general grain,
produce and seed business, founded in 1854 by Albert
F. Dickinson. Its founder, who was one of the oldest
members of the Chicago Board of Trade, was engaged in
business between Dearborn avenue and State street, on
Kinzie street. In the great fire of October, 1871, every-
thing was lost, excepting a memorandum of the debts
which the firm owed. The blow was a severe one, and
the elder Dickinson's health was failing, but in 1872 his
two sons, Albert and Nathan, who had been engaged
with him in the business, together with their brother,
Charles, who at that time was but fourteen years of age,
gathered up the remnants of the business and carried
it on for sixteen years, under the name of Albert Dick-
inson. Doing all the work themselves, the three
brothers, aided by their sister, Melissa, who did the
bookkeeping, were able to wipe out the debts with
which they started, and place the business on a sub-
stantial and paying basis. The quarters on Kinzie
street were finally outgrown, and the company rented
part of the old Empire warehouse on Market street,
only again to remove a few years later to the corner
of Clark and Sixteenth streets, where large elevators
and commodious offices were erected. In time, how-
ever, even these quarters became too small, and an
office, built especially for their purposes, was erected
by the Chicago Dock Company, on their property on
Taylor street, into which the company moved on May i,
1898. The business of the Albert Dickinson Company
extends over a large part of the world, and they are
buyers, as well as sellers, in all the large foreign markets
where goods in their line are handled. They make a
specialty of clover, flax and grass seeds, and do an
extensive business in bird seed, popcorn, grain bags,
seed grains, etc.
The officers of the company are : Albert Dickinson,
president ; Charles Dickinson, vice-president ; Nathan
Dickinson, treasurer; Charles D. Boyles, secretary. Its
board of directors consists of Albert Dickinson, Charles
Dickinson, Nathan Dickinson, .Charles D. Boyles, O. E.
Harden.
Albert Dickinson, president of the Albert Dickin-
son Company, was born at Stockbridge, Massachu-
setts, October 28, 1841, and is the eldest son of Albert
F. and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson, both of whom
were natives of western Massachusetts. Mr. Dick-
inson came to Chicago with his parents in 1855, and
was educated in the public schools of this city, being
a member of the first class to be graduated from
the Chicago High School. After graduation he
entered the office of his father, who had established him-
self in the grain and produce business shortly after
coming to Chicago, and remained there until the out-
break of the war in 1861. In April of that year he
enlisted in Company B of the Chicago Light Artillery,
known as Taylor's Battery, and later as Company B
of the First Regiment, Illinois Light Artillery, and
remained in active service some three years and three
months. He was among those who saw a great deal of
action. He was engaged in the first fight at Frederick-
town, Missouri, and he was also in the engagements at
Donelson, Shiloh, Corinth and Vicksburg. After the
ALBERT DICKINSON.
victory at the latter point his battery was sent to Mem-
phis, from whence they marched to Chattanooga, arriv-
ing in time to take part in the battle of Missionary
Ridge, and later moving to the relief of General Burn-
side at Knoxville. He served throughout the Atlanta
campaign the following spring and was mustered out in
July, 1864.
Upon his return to civil life, Mr. Dickinson com-
menced business at Durant, Iowa, but was shortly after-
ward called to Chicago by his father's failing health,
and at once took the responsibilities of the business
upon himself, and actively commenced the duties of
manager, continuing it in his own name, with the assist-
ance of his brothers and sister, all of whom worked
together.
The misfortunes felt by the great fire had to be
shouldered by Albert Dickinson and his associates, but
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
145
under his management past disasters were wiped out,
and, through continual efforts, the business has been
built up to its present large proportions. Until about
1874 a general commission business was transacted, but
after that time the handling of seeds was made an exclu-
sive business. The business was run in the name of
Albert Dickinson until 1888, when a stock company
was formed, and the firm became known as the Albert
Dickinson Company, which to-day does the largest
business in seeds, particularly grass and field seeds, of
any establishment in the world.
Mr. Dickinson finds his greatest recreation, strange
as it may seem, in hard work, and it is to this that he
attributes the greater share of his success in the business
world. His whole efforts are, and always have been,
given to the development and management of the
Albert Dickinson Company.
Mr. Dickinson has for some years been much inter-
ested in the welfare of the Chicago Academy of Sci-
ences and has been a liberal contributor to its needs.
He is also president of the Timewell Sack Filling and
Sewing Machine Company, a new labor-saving device,
and the only successful machine in the world, for filling
bags and sewing them.
NATHAN DICKINSON.
Nathan Dickinson, treasurer of the Albert Dickin-
son Company, was born at Curtisville, Massachusetts,
in February, 1848, and is the second son of Albert F.
and Ann Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson.
He came to Chicago with his parents in 1855, and
was educated in the public schools of this city, being
graduated from the Dearborn School in 1865. It was
10
soon found that his services were needed in the busi-
ness then being conducted under his father's name,
and he accordingly began business life under the lat-
ter's instructions. He has remained continuously in
the establishment ever since, and for many years has
occupied the position of treasurer.
Charles Dickinson, vice-president of the Albert
Dickinson Company, was born at Chicago on May 28,
CHARLES DICKINSON.
1858, and is the youngest son of Albert F. and Ann
Eliza (Anthony) Dickinson. He attended the public
schools of this city until he was fourteen years of age,
attending the high school in the mornings and working
for Charles Gossage & Company, dry goods merchants,
in the afternoons, at the very meager salary of $1.50
a week.
In 1872 Mr. Dickinson became associated with his
two brothers, Albert and Nathan, who were engaged in
carrying on the business originally started by their
father, Albert F. Dickinson, and which needed their
united attention, due to the losses sustained in the great
fire of the previous year.
The business was then being conducted on a general
commission basis, and it was not until some years later
that seeds came to be handled exclusively. Charles
Dickinson was thus thrown into contact with the world
at a very early age, and it stands as a matter of record
that he was one of the youngest operators on the Board
of Trade, he having begun active trading in his seven-
teenth year. The Albert Dickinson Company was
organized in 1887-1888, and his connection with this
I4G
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
company, of which he is vice-president, has continued
uninterruptedly.
Mr. Dickinson has been fortunate, in that he has
traveled extensively, and has gained much from the
broadening influence which always results from a wide
contact with one's fellow-men. His first trip abroad
was in 1880, at which time he spent some months in
traveling through Europe. Three years later he again
visited Europe, and this time extended his travels south
into Africa, not neglecting the many other points which
could be conveniently touched while en route.
Again in 1894-1895 he spent ten months in Russia,
Germany, France, Denmark, Turkey and other coun-
tries of continental Europe. While his travels have
been extensive, and for the most part of a business
nature, Mr. Dickinson has not failed to visit points of
commercial and historical interest, thus combining
pleasure with business, and receiving a twofold benefit.
Mr. iDickinson is vice-president of the Chicago
Dock Company, is president of the Chicago Moto-Cycle
Company, and is president of the Chicago Polyphone
Company, an organization for the manufacture of an
improved talking machine. "He is a member of the
Union League, Chicago Athletic, Illinois, Germania and
Menoken clubs, and a trustee of the Chicago Academy
of Sciences. He is married and resides at 603 Dearborn
avenue.
CHARLES DICKINSON BOYLES.
Charles Dickinson Boyles, secretary of the Albert
Dickinson Company, was born in Chicago, August I,
1865. His parents were Charles C. and Hannah (Dick-
inson) Boyles.
Mr. Boyles received his education in the public
schools of this city, which he attended until he was six-
teen years of age, at which time he entered the employ-
ment of the Albert Dickinson Company as an office
boy. He has since remained continuously in the serv-
ice of this company, and became secretary of it in 1889.
He is a member of the Union League and Ashland
clubs.
Henry F. Vehmeyer, president of the Chicago Dock
Company, was born in Hanover, Germany, March 7,
HENRY F. VEHMEYER.
1845, tne son °f Christian and Elizabeth (Meyerding)
Vehmeyer. When he was six years old his parents
came to this country, and settled in Chicago, where,
until he reached the age of fourteen years, he attended
the public schools. At this time, however, he secured
a humble position in a grocery store, on the West Side,
where he was employed for about two years, at the
end of which time he engaged in the management of
a small grocery, which his father had purchased, on
the corner of Adams and Throop streets. For thirteen
years he continued in the grocery business, half of the
time at the previously mentioned location, and half of
this period at the corner of Ann and Lake streets.
Mr. Vehmeyer first became a stockholder and
director in the Chicago Dock Company in 1890. Some
three years later he became president, in which capacity
he still continues.
Irwin, Greene & Company is one of the best known
firms on the Chicago Board of Trade, having been
founded in 1854 by D. W. Irwin. From that time to
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
147
the present they have constantly extended their
activities and now do an extensive business as shippers,
receivers and grain merchants. It is known as one of
the conservative firms in this line of business, and
numbers among its customers many of the best known
investors in Chicago.
Charles David Irwin, the senior partner, is the son
of D. W. and Harriett L. (Nash) Irwin. He was born
CHARLES DAVID IRWIN.
in Albany, New York, April 19, 1859, anfl ms father
brought him to Chicago when he was but a child. He is
practically a Chicago product, having been educated in
the Chicago South Division schools, and grew up with
the city. In 1881 he married Miss Hattie F. Duryea
of Nyack, New York, and their children are Jessie N.
and David D. Irwin. It was his father's desire that his
son should succeed him in the firm of Irwin, Greene &
Company, and when Mr. Irwin left school he entered
the firm. He was made a partner in 1881, the year of
his marriage, and, upon his father's death, succeeded to
the latter's interests.
Mr. Invin has always been an independent in poli-
tics and is a Presbyterian. He is a member of the Union
League Club and resides in Evanston. The office of
the firm of Irwin, Greene & Company is in the Postal
Telegraph building".
John Cudahy, son of Patrick and Elizabeth (Shaw)
Cudahy, was born at Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland,
November 2, 1843. His parents came to this country
when he was but six years of age, and after a short
time spent in the New England states came West and
settled in Milwaukee. He attended the public schools
of that city until he was fourteen years of age, when
he secured a position in the packing house of Ed. Rod-
dis, and started in to learn the rudiments of the busi-
ness, with which he \vas to become so closely identified
in after life. He remained in the employ of this house
for about three years, leaving them to enter the estab-
lishment of John Plankinton, afterward known as
Plankinton & Armour.
His connections with this firm lasted until he was
twenty-one years of age. At that time he became asso-
ciated with Thomas Grynne of Milwaukee in the nur-
sery business, dealing in fruit and ornamental trees,
and a few years later purchased the business, conducting
it under his own name until 1870. He paid but a small
sum down at the time of securing control, but managed
it so well that at the time he disposed of it he had not
only cleared himself of debt, but made a considerable
bit of money besides.
Having disposed of this business, he once more
entered the packing industry, this time in the employ of
Layton & Co., packers. While in their service he was
JOHN CUDAHY.
appointed Board of Trade provision inspector for the
city of Milwaukee, and later became foreman and Board
of Trade inspector for Van Kirk & McGeough.
In 1875 he purchased an interest in the business of
John Plankinton, but a few months later, deciding that
the field of operations was not just what he wanted at
the time, he secured a release from his contract, and
came at once to Chicago, where he formed a partner-
148
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
ship with Mr. E. D. Chapin, under the firm name of
Chapin & Co., packers, the business being under this
name for two years, when it became known as the firm
of Chapin £ Cudahy. A few years later Mr. Chapin
withdrew, and since that time Mr. Cudahy has con-
ducted the business under the name of the Cudahy
Packing Company. Some years ago Mr. Cudahy,
together with his brother Patrick, purchased the busi-
ness of John Plankinton of Milwaukee, which has been
carried on under the name of Cudahy Brothers Com-
pany, packers.
In the life of Mr. Cudahy we certainly find a good
example of what can be accomplished by industry, per-
severance and, above all, business integrity. These
qualities would have made him prominent, no doubt, in
other lines of business, and it may be truthfully said
that the success he has achieved and the prominence he
holds to-day are the natural results of these character-
istics, together with others which are to be found in men
that have made their own way.
Chicago certainly owes much of her prosperity to
men like Mr. Cudahy. A liberal-minded citizen, pos-
sessed of the highest ideals in all things, he has freely
contributed his wealth in the aid of many charitable
and public undertakings. Personally, he is a genial
companion, and, although his entire attentions are given
to his business, he finds time to mingle with his fellow-
men. He is very fond of outdoor recreation, and has
a beautiful summer home on Mackinac Island, where
he spends much of his time during the summer months.
He is a member of the Washington Park Club, the
Union League Club and the Chicago Club, besides hold-
ing membership in many other social organizations.
Mr. Cudahy has been twice married, the first time
in 1873, to Miss Mary Nolan of Bridgeport, Connect-
icut, and the second time, in 1881, to Miss Margaret F.
O'Neil, daughter of the late Mr. John O'Neil, one of
Chicago's most respected citizens. He has two daugh-
ters and one son.
Edward William Bailey, a member of the Chicago
Board of Trade, was born at Elmore, La Moille
County, Vermont, August 31, 1843. His parents,
George W. and Rebecca Warren Bailey, were natives
of Berlin, Vermont. The Bailey family is of Scotch
lineage.
Edward W. Bailey is the youngest of ten children.
His education was obtained in the public schools and
in Washington County Grammar School at Montpelier.
At the age of seventeen years he assisted his father in
the management of the homestead farm, thereby devel-
oping a strong muscular frame, and acquiring strength
and endurance, which in the after years stood him in
good stead in the strenuous battle of Chicago life. He
also inherited the upright character and conscientious
principles for which his progenitors had been conspic-
uous. In 1869 he purchased a grocery store at Mont-
pelier, and the following year he and his partner
increased their business by the addition of a grist mill.
When the firm dissolved a few years later, Mr. Bailey
retained the mill and still continues to own and operate
the same.
In 1879 he located in Chicago, and formed a part-
nership with V. W. Bullock for dealing in grain on
commission. After the first three years Mr. Bailey
became the sole proprietor of the business, and now
occupies commodious quarters in the Board of Trade
building. Mr. Bailey's business career has been strik-
EDWARD WILLIAM BAILEY.
ingly successful, and he has an enviable reputation for
honorable dealing and integrity of character.
Mr. Bailey holds liberal views on religious subjects,
and was for many years a member of the congregation
of the late Prof. David Swing. Mr. Bailey's religion
in a nutshell may be defined as a praiseworthy aspira-
tion to do unto others as he would wish others to do
unto him. Mr. Bailey never fails to exercise the right —
as well as the duty — to cast his vote. He supports
Republican principles, believing the Republican party
to represent the best social and economical ideals
Emphatically a man of resolution and prompt action,
he holds a creditable place in the business and social
world of Chicago.
William H. Lake, senior member of the firm of
Vv. H. Lake & Company, commission merchants, is
one of the most successful of the younger Chicago
Board of Trade brokers. He was born in Chicago in
1861 and entered the commission business with Dwight
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
149
& Gillette in 1877. Later Mr. Lake took a position with
Charles Counselman & Company, and still later he
became connected with Bartlett, Frazier & Company,
where he held a superior position until 1901. In that
year he established himself in business and formed the
firm of W. H. Lake & Company, with the entire first
floor of the premises at 6-8 Sherman street as offices
and customers' rooms. At the present, Mr. Lake—
"Billy Lake" as he is better known among his competi-
tors and numerous friends — is considered one of the
representative commission dealers of the Middle West.
Mr. Lake is a member of the Chicago Board of
Trade, Chicago Stock Exchange, New York Produce
Exchange, Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, St. Louis
Merchants' Exchange and the Minneapolis Chamber of
Commerce. He is a director of the Chicago Athletic
Association, and member of the Washington Park Club,
Glenn View Golf Club, Edgewater Club, Chicago Auto-
mobile Club, Chicago Yacht Club and North Shore
Club. He has a daughter aged sixteen and a young
son.
WILLIAM H. LAKE.
GARFIELD PARK.
CHAPTER XXI.
CHICAGO THE CATTLE MARKET OF THE WORLD.
OR half a century Chicago. has been
pre-eminent as a cattle market.
j During that time it has grown from
a small beginning to the greatest
meat packing center the world has
known. The stock yards are still the
wonder of every visitor who comes to
Chicago, from far and near.
It was in 1848 that the first step
in founding this tremendous industry
was taken. A vacant lot at Madison
street and Ogden avenue was rented
by several stock men, and a few pens built.
It was known as the "Bull Head" stock-
yards, and a few hundred cattle, sheep and hogs were
handled there every year. The slaughtering was
done entirely for local consumption by a few
small butchers. All the cattle were raised within a
radius of less than 100 miles, and they were driven in
by the owners and sold direct to the butchers without
the advantage of a fixed market price. The nearest
butcher was at Halsted and Madison streets, and in this
way the great West Side highway, Madison street, was
first marked out by the hoof tracks of the cattle, sheep
and hogs.
The next step in the development of this great
industry was taken by the Michigan Southern Railroad,
which had begun to haul no inconsiderable number of
stock from the farmers of Michigan and Indiana. It
was not convenient or profitable to drive the cattle from
the southern entrance of the town to the West Side
stockyards and the railroad opened a stockyards of its
own at Twenty-second and State streets. In a few years
this example was followed by a number of other roads.
In 1856 the Illinois Central and Michigan Central
encouraged John B. Sherman to build the Myrick stock-
yards far out in Cottage Grove avenue. It could handle
5,000 cattle and 30,000 hogs, and the roads built
switches to it. This was followed by a rival yard in
Cottage Grove avenue by the Fort Wayne Railroad,
and soon after the Burlington put up a yard of its own
near Ashland avenue, along its right of way.
The cattle industry was handled in this way until
near the close of the war, when the importance of the
business clearly indicated that some consolidation must
be had to put it on a firm business basis. The great
cattle ranges of the West and Southwest began to look
to Chicago for a market. Kansas, Texas and New Mex-
ico, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Missouri and Illinois,
Indiana and Michigan began to send avalanches of cattle
into the Chicago market. Chicago was becoming the
meat supply center of the nation.
The leading spirits of the small scattered yards came
together for mutual profit and protection. The result
of that conference was the present Union Stockyards
and Transit Company, which with its allied industries
and interests form the richest mercantile and manufac-
turing achievements in the history of the world. The
original prospectus was issued in 1864, and called for a
stock subscription of $1,000,000. In February of the
next year, a special charter was obtained from the state
and the company formally organized with the following
officers: Timothy B. Blackstone, president; F. H.
Winston, secretary, and Robert Nolton, assistant sec-
retary.
To-day more than a quarter of a million people
derive their support direct from it in Chicago alone.
The activities which have grown up from this beginning
and which center around it, represent the most costly,
the most productive and most potential single manu-
facturing industry in history.
The first purchase of a site included 320 acres bought
of John Wentworth along Halsted street, in the town of
Lake. It was a low marshy tract, and considered of
150
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
151
no practical value. The work of draining it, and erect-
ing the sheds and pens began in June, 1865, and by the
close of that year was thrown open for business. The
yards were laid out as a small town, with streets and
alleys. These have been paved and planked, as the yards
grew, and now there are over twenty-five miles of such
highways in the stockyards. It has been increased
from time to time until it now includes over 500 acres.
To-day Chicago remains supreme in the cattle
business of the world. Favored by its location, rising
equal to every demand put upon it for facilities, with
intense concentration and economy of method, and
handling of raw material. Not a hair or drop of blood
of the first asset, the live cattle, is lost. Nothing is
wasted, neither time nor offal, and from the savings
from this incalculable economy in the utilization of
every by-product the stupendous fortunes of the
Armours, the Swifts, the Morrises, the Cudahys and
others have been built up.
This policy has brought about the concentration
of allied interests which in turn has resulted in making
the Chicago stockyards what they are and maintaining
VIEW OF ARMOUR & COMPANY'S PLANT.
a spirit and enterprise capable of meeting the changes
and developments of conditions, it has been unaffected
by the growth of allied enterprises in other Western
cities. The output of the stockyards and the great pack-
ing plants have steadily increased despite the fact that
a half dozen other towns, Omaha, Sioux City, Kansas
City, East St. Louis, Wichita and Fort Worth, have all
developed greater packing and stockyards interests
than Chicago, in the beginning of its stockyards, ever
dreamed. Its growth, price-fixing power and the
increase of the output has remained undiminished, and
assured.
This unchallenged position is the result of the most
them in their unchallenged supremacy. Jonas Howard
in describing how these industries are interwoven, and
interdependent says: "Canned meats and fresh beef,
mutton and pork are not the limitations of its' efficiency.
Tooth brushes, buttons, hair brushes, chessmen, knife
handles, fertilizers, soaps, perfume, chewing gum,
teething rings, tooth powder, shaving sticks, razor
strops, penholders, glue, pistol butts, powder puffs, jet
ornaments, paper cutters, hat racks, mounted horns, a
thousand articles of art, utility, and commerce that were
never dreamed of by the cattle butchers of twenty years
ago, to-day are sold in millions of dollars worth from the
Chicago stockyards and their tributary establishments.
152
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
"Nothing could liave achieved these wonderful
results but the concentration in one place of a score or
more of various though not conflicting interests. The
packers of Chicago stockyards have littered the deserts
and morasses, and the tenantless mountains of the
world with their meat cans. They have fed armies and
explorers; by sheer dint of their usefulness they have
made of a coarse, utilitarian trade an influence in the
march of civilization, an especial condition in the prog-
ress of mankind."
A glance at the daily performance of the Chicago
stockyards of the present will make the initial achieve-
ments seem puerile and trivial. It has a capacity now
of 75,000 cattle a day, 300,000 hogs, 125,000 sheep and
6,000 horses. Three hundred miles of railroad tracks
gridiron it. There are 13,000 open pens, 8,500 double-
decked inclosures for sheep and hogs, 25,000 gates and a
complete water and drainage system. In fact the stock-
yards are a city in themselves, giving employment to
50,000 men, and an army of women and girls. During
Chicago's centennial year there were received 3,440,000
cattle, 272,000 calves, 7,828,000 hogs, 4,584,000 sheep
and 100,000 horses. Of these 2,171,000 cattle were
slaughtered, 245,000 calves, 6,595,000 hogs and 3,584,-
ooo sheep. The value of the stock shipped to this great
cattle center during 1903 was over $311,900,000. In
the process of manufacture into the various food prod-
ucts and other products of the allied industries, this value
was tremendously enhanced.
But it is not alone in the value and number of
cattle handled and slaughtered, not in the extent and
area of the yards that their tremendous potentialities
care be measured. Every conceivable device for the
utilization of and expeditious handling of this great
product of the farms of the nation is installed. Labor
is made to produce to the limit of its efficiency. The
stockyards of Chicago represent the consumption of
mechanical speed with commercial utilities. Minutes
lost are figured as weight and money lost.
No two cities in the state of Illinois, outside of
Chicago could furnish the men, boys and girls to do
the work daily performed at the stockyards. The
employees of this tremendous enterprise and its allied
industries, with their families, would make a city second
in size in the state, in fact, three times as large as any
other outside of Chicago. It might be safely stated that
half a million people are more or less dependent upon
this monumental centralization of business activity for
their livelihood.
Within the past five years there has been added to
the stockyards activities the annual live-stock exhibition,
with a purpose to raise the standard of American bred
cattle and horses. These competitive exhibitions have
been tremendous successes. Thus, Chicago, has not
been content with merely being the great meat food
supply depot of the world, but has determined that the
world shall have better meat, better horses and quicker
service.
Armour & Company. Very few people realize the
enormous extent of the packing industry in Chicago,
which has been gradually developing during the last
fifteen or twenty years. Armour & Company, only one
of several firms engaged in that business, have a daily
average killing capacity of 49,000 hogs, 21,000 sheep
and 16,000 cattle, an average of 86,000 head of live
stock per day, which, counting 300 working days to
the year, makes a total of 25,000,000 head per year.
The area of land occupied by the several packing
plants of Armour & Company is as follows :
Acres.
Chicago 160
Kansas City 65
Omaha 31
St. Louis 29
Sioux City 14
Fort Worth . 16
Total area 315
The total output of these establishments, including
dressed beef, hams, bacon and six hundred or more
by-products, averages annually more than $200,000,000
in value and includes many curious and interesting
features. People know very little of the enormous
variety of articles manufactured in connection with the
slaughter-house business from which the packers derive
their profits. For example. Armour & Company man-
ufacture from twenty-five to thirty miles of sandpaper
every day and an equal amount of emery cloth, which
is used by the furniture factories, shoe factories and
others.
Armour & Company have between 6,500 and 7,000
employees connected with the administrative and com-
mercial departments, from managers to messenger boys,
and between 18,000 and 20,000 persons engaged in
manual labor at their several plants. The pay roll
amounts to about $16,000,000 a year. These employees
are scattered among more than 600 branch houses in
different parts of the United States and foreign coun-
tries. There is not a city of any size in the world at
which the company is not represented. They own 5,000
refrigerator cars for the transportation of meats,
chickens, eggs, fruit and packing-house products. Their
different plants in the West and Southwest are con-
nected by about 5,000 miles of private telegraph wire,
and from sixty to seventy-five telegraph operators are
employed, according to the season.
Everything about the Armour packing plant is done
by electricity and the most ingenious automatic con-
trivances. There is an elevated railway running between
buildings and through all the streets and alleys, with
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
153
over five miles of track, ten electric motors of twenty-
five horsepower each, and 3,000 cars built in different
styles adapted to the special purposes for which they are
used. It is the only railroad of the kind in existence, and
its utility was shown last year, when 375,000,000 pounds
of meat and other products were transported from cut-
ting floors and factories to warehouses and railroads for
domestic and foreign transportation.
The power plant of Armour & Company is one of
the largest in the world, covering a ground space of 200
feet square and up to date in every feature. The coal
and ashes are handled by automatic gravity contri-
vances. The boiler plant consists of twenty-four verti-
cal water tube boilers of 375 horsepower each, and will
be increased by 1,200 horsepower within a few months.
There are four massive refrigerating machines, two of
400 tons and two of 600 tons capacity daily, which will
meats and lard are manufactured. There is a complete
printing establishment also, where they do all their own
lithographing and printing and manufacture their own
books and stationery. In fact, everything except the
raw material is made on the ground.
Swift & Company. The beginning of every large
and important industry has almost without exception
been actuated by some big idea generated in the mind
of one whose faith was predominant.
In the case of Swift & Company at least this was
true. Gustavus Franklin Swift, whose early life was
spent as a Cape Cod farm boy, started the business
which has evolved into the present Swift & Company.
First as a seller of meat among his neighbors, then
as an employee to a local butcher, and later as a partner
in a successful stock commission business — finally
Mr. Swift began business in Chicago in 1875. This
ARMOUR & COMPANY'S GRAIN ELEVATORS.
be increased by 1,200 tons capacity very shortly. The
entire plant is as nearly fireproof as can be made, but
as an additional precaution a thoroughly equipped fire
department is in complete readiness for instantaneous
service day and night. The most modern appliances
for the detection of fire have been supplied and watch-
men are on duty everywhere.
The canning department is also the largest in the
world. Cleanliness is the chief characteristic, and no
private kitchen in the land is neater. By the use of
machinery manual labor has been reduced to a mini-
mum, and long continued chemical experiments have
enabled the cooks to retain all the natural flavors of the
different meats they handle. The laboratory is under
the charge of a chief chemist, with ten assistants, who
are always busy making tests and devising novelties for
the meat department.
ArmOur & Company build their own cars, and have
a tin factory, where all their cans and pails for preserved
was in the early days of the Chicago Union Stock Yards.
Competition, however, had already arrived and cor-
porations headed by such business giants as P. D.
Armour, Nelson Morris, Michael Cudahy and G. H.
Hammond were laying lines for larger growth.
During the first year of Swift Bros. & Company
the business was mainly buying and selling cattle.
Slaughtering was not installed until a year later.
It was also during the early winters at the yards
that Mr. G. F. Swift experimented with the shipping of
dressed beef to eastern markets. His efforts were so
successful that the business took on great impetus.
To-day G. F. Swift is the name most mentioned as the
man whose courage and faith made possible the refrig-
erator car, which has long since revolutionized the stock
and fruit industry.
In 1883 by-products were first utilized by the refin-
ing of beef suet for oleo oil.
In 1884 sheep killing was installed and in 1885 hogs
154
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
were first butchered. The same year Swift & Company
was incorporated for $300,000. December i, 1886,
however, this capital stock was increased to $3,000,000.
This latter amount was increased gradually until in
January, 1904, the capital stock became $35,000,000.
The Chicago plant occupies nearly fifty acres. Six
other plants, occupying an area of nearly two hundred
acres, are located one in each of the following cities:
Kansas City, Kansas ; Omaha, Nebraska ; East St.
Directors : E. C. Swift, Boston ; L. F. Swift, Chi-
cago; E. F. Swift, Chicago; L. A. Carton, Chicago;
J. R. Redfield, Hartford ; Dumont Clarke, New York.
Magnitude of Transactions. — Here are some of the
figures which tell the story in a nutshell — the transac-
tions of Swift & Company.
During the year 1904 the company slaughtered over
8,250,000 head of livestock. The total distributive
sales for the same period exceeded $200,000,000.
#
VIEW OF SWIFT & COMPANY'S PLANT.
Louis, Illinois; St. Paul, Minnesota; St. Joseph Mis-
souri; Fort Worth, Texas.
These plants supply the branch distributing houses
to be found in every important city in the world.
Swift & Company's main plants are immense institu-
tions, built and equipped after the most modern and
systematic plans. Beef, mutton, pork, provisions and
all packing house products are prepared in large
quantities.
The General Offices at Chicago occupy a building
erected in 1903 to take the place of the old General
Offices destroyed by fire in July, 1903. This new build-
ing is 100x200 feet, five stories high, and built of steel
and brick. It is a noteworthy structure, even in a city
of magnificent and costly buildings, and is considered
the finest office building in the world, devoted to the
interests of a single firm.
Swift & Company is distinctly an American enter-
prise, conducted after genuine American ideas, energy
and push. Wherever this company has sought sales
in other countries the same American business acumen
has won. It employs a vast army of individuals, which
furnishes support for a large number of people.
Officers : E. C. Swift, chairman ; L. F. Swift, presi-
dent; E. F. Swift, vice-president; L. A. Carton, treas-
urer; D. E. Hartwell, secretary.
The total shipments of product during 1904 aver-
aged over 350 carloads for each working day.
The total number of persons employed in all pack-
ing plants and branch houses aggregates over 25,000
workers.
One Day's Slaughtering. — In a single day the total
slaughtering in the seven packing plants was as follows :
Cattle ",895
Sheep 16,553
Hogs 34,562
The largest number of poultry slaughtered in a
single day during 1904 was 62,382.
SIZE OF PLANTS.
Buildings
Acres.
Floor Space
Acres.
Land
Acres.
Chicago 44^ 87^ 47
Kansas City 7f 30 19*
Omaha 6 26 23
St. Louis 7^ 19! 3if
St. Joseph 6| 25} 19}
St. Paul 5 12 16
Fort Worth 3 15 22
Awards for Best Products. — Swift & Company's
products have received the highest awards at all the
international expositions.
At the Paris Exposition of 1900, four gold medals
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
155
were awarded to Swift & Company for a refrigerator
car and contents, for dressed beef, pork and provisions,
including Premium Hams and Bacon and Silver Leaf
Lard.
The principal specialties prepared by Swift & Com-
pany are : Swift's Premium Hams, Swift's Premium
Bacon, Swift's Silver Leaf Lard, Crown Princess Toilet
Soap, Wool Soap, Swift's Pride Soap. Swift's Pride
Washing Powder.
Nelson Morris & Company is the oldest packing firm
in Chicago. Business was commenced in a portion of the
present building on June 17, 1879, but Mr. Nelson
Morris had personally been conducting a packing busi-
ness for some years on the site of his present gigantic
Chicago house. His business is the outgrowth of a
butcher business which Mr. Morris started in 1858, or
ten years before the foundation of Armour & Company.
Two weeks after the establishment of the present firm
of Nelson Morris & Company, the Fairbank Canning
Company, then, as it is now, an integral part of the
Morris firm, stuffed its first can, and pasted it with the
well-known "Lion," as a guarantee of quality to the
world. From that time to the present the firm has
grown rapidly. Repeated additions have been made to
the Chicago plant, and in addition packing houses have
been opened at East St. Louis, St. Joseph and Kansas
City. The combined buildings at these four points cover
a floor space exceeding 150 acres. The Chicago house
of the steel industry, it is the largest of all that America
has either originated or adopted from other countries.
The existence of the packing industry as it is to-day
is almost entirely due to the work of four men, Nelson
Morris. Philip D. Armour, Gustavus F. Swift and G. H.
Hammond. Of these four, the pioneer, and the only
survivor, is Mr. Nelson Morris.
Since Mr. Nelson Morris first began business at
Thirty-first street and the Lake Shore, the butcher busi-
ness has developed into the packing business, that is to
say, an industry conducted for the production of one
product has developed into an industry in which sixty-
nine businesses are conducted, and in which the main
product is sold at a loss. This main product is the
same product the butcher business was conducted to
produce. This metamorphosis has been due more,
than to any other living man, to Mr. Nelson Morris.
When the firm of Nelson Morris & Company was
established, in 1879, the butcher business had grown
into an embryonic packing business, that is to say, that
although the chief product was still fresh meat, and
although the chief profit was still made out of fresh
meat, yet a commencement had been made in the salva-
tion of the bye-products, which has since revolutionized
the entire industry.
The packing house Mr. Morris opened June 17,
1879, consisted of four departments: the Fresh Meat
Department, the Hide Department, the Oleo Depart-
ment and the Canning Department. The packing
OLD MYRICK STOCK YARDS.
Photo of Painting in possession of Nelson Morris, Esq.
alone is so large that were a man to walk through it,
opening each door that he came to, without entering a
single room except to pass through, or stopping to
examine anything, it would take him a full working day
of ten hours, and something over, to do it.
The development of the packing industry has been,
probably, the most significant thing connected with the
rapid growth of Chicago. It is the only industry which
is distinctly American, and with the probable exception
house he runs to-day consists of sixty-nine departments,
each one of which has been made necessary by the
changed conditions surrounding the slaughtering and
sale of animal food products.
In these sixty-nine departments are included the
preparation of all kinds of food products, from fresh
meats to mince meat and plum pudding. Butter, eggs
and poultry, glue, tin cans, electric light, feathers, hide,
ice, fertilizer and a score of other products are made.
156
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
A hospital, fire brigade, printing shop, lithographing
establishment, laundry, barber shop, architects' office
and a dozen other enterprises are parts of the great
and complex organization of Morris & Company's
establishment.
Mr. Morris has always insisted that his packing
houses should be constructed scientifically and along as
completely modern lines as possible. His Chicago
house, when it was erected, was the model house of the
country and is still held by packing house authorities
to be superior to any of its contemporaries.
The East St. Louis house was built in June, 1889, and
was again a model. Nine years later the packing house
at St. Joseph began operations and was in its turn held
table specialties prepared by this company. Any facts
relating to Libby, McNeill & Libby cannot, therefore,
fail to be of interest. This concern is distinctively a
Chicago institution, a striking example of what Chicago
push and energy, coupled with brain and strict business
integrity, can accomplish, and one in which much pride
is felt by the citizens of Chicago.
Prior to the year 1867 the curing of beef was done
exclusively in cold weather, but in the summer of 1867
Mr. Arthur A. Libby demonstrated the practicability
of curing beef in the summer, and early in the following
year the business of Libby, McNeill & Libby was
founded by Messrs. Arthur A. Libby, Archibald McNeill
and Charles P. Libby. Arthur A. and C. P. Libby,
VIEW OF LIBBY, McNEILL & LIBBY'S PLANT.
up to the packers of the country as an example of what
a packing house should be. All three houses were,
however, eclipsed when, in 1905, Morris & Company
opened their plant at Kansas City, which they had
erected at a cost of $2,225,000, after having saved
$375,000 by doing all their construction work, from
cellar to garret, through their own construction depart-
ment.
Libby, McNeill & Libby, whose name has long been
a household word in all parts of the civilized world, has
been made famous by the uniformly excellent meats
bearing this brand, sold in all markets of the world
for almost a third of a century. There is scarcely a
man, woman or child under the sun who has not, at
some time or other, eaten some of Libbv's delicious
brothers, hailed from Portland, Maine, and Mr. McNeill
from Buffalo, New York. They became the pioneers
in the great meat-canning industry of to-day. Their
capital, as Mr. Arthur A. Libby once expressed it. con-
sisted of but little cash, three pairs of strong and willing
hands, and an indomitable determination to succeed.
The name of the firm was first A. A. Libby & Company,
which was subsequently changed to its present style.
For many years the business was confined almost exclu-
sively to the packing and preserving of beef, but during
the last few years pork, mutton, veal, poultry, pickles,
olives, etc., have been added. The average number
of carcasses of beef handled daily during the first year
was only about 4.63. The second year showed a
material increase over the first, and so did each succeed-
ing year over its predecessors, until now the capacity
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
157
has been increased to 3,000 head of cattle per day. exclu-
sive of the other lines.
When the business was incorporated, Mr. A. A.
Libby was elected president; Mr. C. P. Libby, vice-
president and manager; Mr. A. Libby, Jr., treasurer,
and Mr. L. C. Young, secretary. At the present time
officers are as follows : Edward Tilden, president and
treasurer; Edward F. Swift, vice-president; W. F. Bur-
rows, vice-president and secretary; C. T. Lee, assistant
secretary ; Henry W. Hardy, assistant treasurer.
The National Packing Company was incorporated
under the laws of New Jersey, March 18, 1903, in order
to acquire a number of the smaller packing houses
bought up by the stockyards interests prior to this time.
The capital stock of the company, authorized and out-
standing, is $15,000,000. The plants acquired by the
National Company, which had been purchased before
the organization by the leading stockholders in their in-
dividual capacity, are the G. H. Hammond Company,
Hammond Packing Company, Omaha Packing Com-
pany, the Anglo-American Provision Company, the
Fowler Packing Company, St. Louis Dressed Beef &
Provision Company, United Dressed Beef Company,
Fowler's Canadian Company, Limited; Fowler Bros.,
Limited, Liverpool ; and the Continental Packing Com-
pany. The officers of the National Packing Company
are : Edward Tilden, president ; Arthur Colby, secretary
and assistant treasurer. The directors are : J. Ogden
Armour, P. A. Valentine, Louis F. Swift, Edward F.
Swift, Edward Morris, Ira N. Morris, J. P. Lyman,
T. J. Connors, Edward Tilden, Thomas E. Wilson,
Arthur Meeker, L. A. Carton, Kenneth K. McLaren,
Charles H. Swift, L. H. Heyman, S. McRoberts and
F. A. Fowler.
S. A. McClean. Jr., late president of the National
Packing Company, which comprises a number of large
packing firms in America and Canada, was without a
doubt the most widely known and well-liked member of
the packing trade. His sudden death the morning of
August 29, 1905, was a shock to his many friends and
business associates. He was telephoning from his home
to his office when he was stricken with heart disease, and
a few moments later the word was flashed over the ticker
to the La Salle street financial houses that he was dead.
Combining a most happy faculty of winning even his
opponents over to his way of thinking, with a strong
personal magnetism and a jovial and kind disposition,
he advanced steadily from the position of office boy,
until, at the age of thirty-five years, he was directing
the complex machinery of one of the largest packing
plants in the world.
Mr. McClean was born at Belfast, Ireland, Feb-
ruary n, 1870, and entered the employment of the
Anglo-American Provision Company, twenty-five
years ago as office boy. By sheer will power and great
perseverance, never being satisfied until he had accom-
plished what he set out to do, no matter how small,
he climbed the ladder until at the exceptionally young
age of twenty-five years, the position of vice-president
of the Anglo-American Provision Company was offered
him. His success in this position being such as to bring
him conspicuously to the foreground as a commanding
factor, S. A. McClean was elected vice-president of the
National Packing Company very shortly after the for-
mation of the latter company, and in this capacity
proved himself more than equal to the task. Illustrat-
ing his superior ability as the executive head of an
institution having extensive interests throughout the
S. A. McCLEAN, JR.
world, quick in forming correct deductions and decid-
ing most important questions on the spur of the
moment, he had at the time of his sudden death reached
the pinnacle of success, occupying the president's chair
with the National Packing Company. He was a man
without an enemy, esteemed even by his adversaries for
his sterling qualities and honest dealings.
S. A. McClean was a member of the Chicago Athletic
Association, Union League, Chicago, Mid-day and
Washington Park clubs, as well as director of several
other large corporations and banks. The title given
him by his friends, "the Little Napoleon of the Pack-
ing Business," was certainly well chosen.
Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company. The year
1853 saw the beginning of the history of the
Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company of to-day, and
which has covered a successful business period of
158
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
fifty years. On the date above mentioned the slaugh-
tering of fifty cattle weekly was considered a large busi-
ness, and compared to the present output of about fif-
teen thousand (15,000) cattle per week, together with
the handling of thousands of sheep, lambs and hogs,
shows the progress and growth of the company.
Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company, more familiarly
known as the "S. & S." Company, may be truly classed
as one of the pioneers in the handling of refrigerated
dressed beef, and are now conceded to be one of the
packing powers of the world, which is due, in a great
measure, to the high standard of its goods and strict
business principles.
During its early history the business was carried
on as a firm, of which the partners were Mr. Joseph
FERDINAND SULZBERGER.
Schwarzschild and Mr. Ferdinand Sulzberger, the lat-
ter being president and treasurer of the present corpo-
ration. It early demonstrated itself to the firm that
in connection with the slaughtering of cattle, the success
of an abattoir business depends largely on the most
advantageous handling and utilizing of the by-products,
particularly the fats, which had been given little and
careless attention by the old-time slaughterers. The
adoption of new machinery and ideas, backed by the
energy and experience of the firm, resulted in placing
on the market the famous "Harrison Brand" of Oleo
oil, which soon found favor on the domestic and -Euro-
pean markets, and is to-day conceded to be the leading
brand, with a world-famed demand and reputation.
In 1885, owing to the practical retirement of Mr.
Schwarzschild from active business, his son-in-law, Mr.
Frederick Joseph, who had previously been a handler
of live stock, became associated with the firm, assum-
ing Mr. Schwarzschild's active duties, and on the incor-
poration of the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company
later, was elected vice-president, which office he holds
at the present time.
In 1888, on account of increased European business,
Mr. Sulzberger went abroad for the general promoting
of their foreign interests. It was at this time that Mr.
Samuel Weil became associated with the firm, and,
with Mr. Joseph, ably assisted in handling the business.
Mr. Weil's energy and business abilities made him an
important factor in the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger
Company. Upon the incorporation of the company,
lie was elected vice-president and secretary, which
offices he holds to-day.
In 1892, the rapid increase of domestic and export
business having outgrown the capacity of the New
York plant, the firm saw the advantages of an addi-
tional plant in the West, and negotiated the purchase
of a corporation, at that time known as the Phoenix
Packing Company, having a plant located at Kansas
City, Kansas, with a few distributing branches in the
East, and a refrigerator car line, known as the Cold
Blast Transportation Company. Enlargement of the
plant to several times its original capacity, with added
modern machinery and facilities, immediately followed.
After purchasing the western interests, the New
York plant gradually increased the output of kosher
killed cattle for the supply of Greater New York, as an
equivalent for volume transferred to Kansas City for
export and general branch distribution.
On May 10, 1893, there was filed with the secre-
tary of state in Albany, New York, a charter of incor-
poration, known as the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger
Company, which is the corporation of to-day.
Branch houses were rapidly established throughout
the country and the export business was materially
increased.
The Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company's success
and growth again demonstrated the further enlarge-
ment of plant requirements, and in 1899 it was decided
to build their famous Chicago plant, conceded to be the
finest in the world, which, with that at Kansas City,
gave the company the advantage of being located on
two of the leading cattle markets of the country — Kan-
sas City and Chicago.
With modern plants, an increased refrigerator car
line, and a complete equipment of livestock cars for
transporting their cattle to New York, it put them in
an advantageous position — second to none — to com-
pete for the general business of this country and
Europe.
In 1900, Mr. M. J. Sulzberger, son of President Sulz-
berger, was elected vice-president, and upon completion
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
159
of the Chicago plant, assumed general charge as resi-
dent official at Chicago.
The volume and magnitude of the Schwarzschild &
Sulzberger Company's business, backed by the high
standard and reputation of its products, and with the
enormous army of employees, aggregating twelve
thousand, including auditors, inspectors, depart-
ment superintendents, managers and general employees
of the best talent, also its own architects and
a construction department for the building and
maintaining of its plants, branches, car lines, etc.,
gives this company an enviable standing in the packing
interests of the world. Approximately, the aggregate
domestic and European business for 1905 will aggre-
gate $100,000,000.
has been built up in a little over twenty years, by the
perseverance and energy of the man at the head, is
now $250,000.
Mr. Miller was born in Chicago, March 15, 1857.
He was educated in the public schools, graduating from
high school in Blue Island. The first two years of
his business life were spent in the employ of a stationery
firm. In 1876 he began his career in the packing busi-
ness as office boy with Fowler Bros., at the Union
Stock Yards. He rose from this position to assistant
shipping clerk and soon after was made shipping clerk.
Then he was sent by his employers to the Board of
Trade to buy cooperage and salt.
With this experience, in 1882, Mr. Miller, then
twenty-five years old, went in business for himself, be-
•«• U iWT^*'*
I Inn
MILLER & HART'S PLANT.
The Chicago plant covers eighteen acres, and is
connected with the Union Stock Yards by overhead
viaduct. It has a capacity per week of 10,000 cattle,
25,000 hogs, 15,000 small stock. There are cellars,
outbuildings, a canning plant and an oil refinery. The
motive power is electricity and it has a large artificial
refrigeration plant.
It is visited yearly by thousands of people who mar-
vel at the uniqueness of this modern institution.
Walter H. Miller, president of the packing house
of Miller & Hart, typifies the Chicagoan whose busi-
ness reflects the personality of its founder and owner.
In 1876 Mr. Miller was an office boy. Now he is
directing a great concern employing hundreds of peo-
ple. In 1882, when Mr. Miller embarked in business
for himself as a provision dealer, his capital was less
than $2,000. The capital of the packing house which
coming a provision dealer on South Water street. Two
years later he combined his resources with those of
William Craig. The provision house of Miller, Craig
& Co. was founded with a capital of $2,500. In 1890
the firm name was changed to Miller & Hart. After
the death of Mr. Hart, which occurred in 1897, the
business was incorporated.
Two years previous to this the company moved into
the plant it now occupies at Twenty-fifth street and
La Salle avenue. This plant covers an area of several
acres. There is a frontage of 300 feet on La Salle
avenue and at the rear of the plant are the tracks of
the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway. A
side-track from the railway runs directly into the yards
of the packing company. From here the Miller &
Hart products are sent to all parts of the continent.
The Miller & Hart Company have always been
160
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
entirely independent of other packing houses at the
Union Stock Yards. The "Berkshire" brand of ham,
which is the Miller & Hart Company's special product,
has become widely known throughout the country.
Associated with Mr. Miller in directing the packing
company is D. C. Roberton, who has been with the
concern seventeen years. He is now assistant manager.
D. V. Colbert, who is secretary of the company, is an
influential member of the Ways and Means Committee
of the Chicago Commercial Association. John Roberts,
vice-president of the company, is also a member of the
packing firm of Roberts & Oake at the Union Stock
Yards. The treasurer, C. A. Bruce, was formerly credit
man for a large wholesale grocery house at Blooming-
ton, Illinois. Twenty-five traveling salesmen have
made the Miller & Hart products known and used from
coast to coast.
In 1879 Mr. Miller was married to Rowena P.
Fobes of Chicago. They have two children, Walter F.,
twenty-three years old, who is an architect, and Char-
lotte, who is now Mrs. Arthur R. McDougall. The
Millers live at 4580 Oakenwald avenue. Mr. Miller,
who has for many years been prominent in Masonic
circles, is a Knight Templar and member of the Medi-
nah Temple, Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of
the Chicago Athletic Club.
M. H. Tichenor & Company, the well-known firm
of horse dealers, was established in 1893. The firm
consists of M. H. Tichenor and L. M. Newgass. Mr.
Tichenor was engaged in the horse business eight or
ten years previous.
Tichenor & Company have always advocated the
"American Trotter" as the best type for a high-class
coach or carriage horse. It has always been the aim
of this firm to handle only high-class horses ; they have
furnished more first prize winners at the principal horse
shows than all of the dealers of the United States com-
bined, which certainly proves the quality of the horses
they sell.
The firm has two stables in Chicago, one at Forty-
third and Halsted streets, adjoining the Dexter pavilion,
and the other at Fifty-ninth and Paulina streets. The
former is the finest appointed sales stable in the stock-
yards. It has a capacity of eighty-five head, and is
fitted with every convenience. The training barn is the
most up-to-date in America, with box stalls for over 100
horses, and a beautiful park for exercising and training
their horses.
LAKE VIEWS IN DOUGLAS PARK.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHICAGO'S MANUFACTURING INTERESTS.
'HICAGO'S growth and greatness can
be best measured by the story of the
city's manufacturers. Favored by
location and the accessibility of cheap
fuel, iron, lumber, clay, sand and
other raw materials for a score or
more of the most important indus-
tries, Chicago has become the manu-
facturing wonder of the world. Dur-
ing the past twenty-five years the
forward strides of the city's factories
have outstripped all precedents. The
gains made during this last quarter century have been
so marvelous as to arouse the envy and wonder of all
other centers of industry. Coupled with Chicago's near-
ness to the unmeasured natural products of the Middle
West, has been the cheapness of land and its natural
and inevitably advantageous location, as the main gate-
way for the transcontinental traffic of the country.
Nowhere in the world has such a record been made
in the number and diversity of manufacturing inter-
ests, in the great capital invested, in the annual output
and in the hundreds of thousands of men and women
employed. The congestion of traffic in the streets, the
crowded side-walks of the down-town districts, the
street cars, carriages, trucks and motors, the disarray of
busy streets, the worn out pavements, the dirt, the
grime, the very smoke which gives Chicago its reputa-
tion as an unclean city, are all evidences of a manufac-
turing growth without parallel. In the terrific pace set
by Chicago's manufacturing interests, the municipality
has been well-nigh overwhelmed in dealing with the
questions of public utility, convenience and safety. But
at the same time the great manufacturing interests have
always stood for all that is best in Chicago's public
spirit, civic pride and municipal advancement. To the
great wealth developed by these industries is due every
movement for the beautification of the city, for better
streets, better traffic facilities, better schools, greater
parks and purer civil government. Already the city is
surrounded by a cordon of manufacturing centers to
which many of the larger industries have been forced to
move. There are being built the most modern plants.
Industrial communities are being started that have
drawn thousands from the crowded and unsanitary sec-
tions of the city. In this way the inevitable congestion
of the down-town streets and the terminals of the rail-
roads is being relieved, the border expansion being but
the natural consequence of the tremendous industrial
strides of the city.
Chicago's greatest industrial development may be
said to have set in about the year 1880. There was
invested in manufacturing in Chicago at that time
upwards of $68,800,000. At the close of the year 1900
this investment had grown almost nine-fold, the aggre-
gate being over $534,000,000. This increase of nearly
$450,000,000 in twenty years has never been equaled.
The total sum now invested in the manufacturing inter-
ests of the city will approximate $650,000,000, show-
ing a continued advance for the last five years of
approximately twenty per cent. From 1890 to 1900
the percentage of increase was forty-eight, and every-
thing points to1 a larger increase during the present
decade. The output of these great industries now
aggregates over one billion dollars. In 1880, Chicago's
factories produced only $248,995,000, rising to
$880,945,000 in 1900, and by the latest estimates has
well passed the billion mark. New York and Pittsburg,
although their gains have been tremendous in the same
decade, can show no such advance.
Chicago's manufacturers, twenty-five years ago,
employed less than 80,000 wage earners. Its factories
1G1
162
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
now give employment to over 300,000 and the wages
paid twenty-five years ago have increased from, approx-
imately $35,000,000 to nearly $175,000,000 In the last
•quarter century Chicago's manufacturing interests have
passed all American rivals, except New York. This
supremacy has not only been attained in the value of
the total output, but in the capital invested, the number
and size of the plants, the number of wage earners and
wages paid and in the cost of the raw material used.
Chicago's manufacturing energies show no disposition
to go back or even to remain stationary. The growth
continues strong and vigorous.
Despite the great combination in industrial enter-
prises, Chicago's increase shows a larger proportion of
smaller factories than in enterprises involving a million
dollars or over. Combinations have had no diminish-
ing effect upon the total capital invested in Chicago's
industries nor in the number of employees and the
wages paid them, nor in the aggregate of the output
or the value of the products. To-day the scale of wages
paid in the factories of Chicago is higher than ever
before. The length of the working day is less than it
was ten years ago. In increasing the capacity of their
plants Chicago manufacturers have looked into the
future, and while the comparison of the capital invested
is relatively small, still the volume of business done is
growing by such leaps and bounds that whatever has
been sacrificed in percentage of profits is being more
than made up by the increase in volume of business
done in practically all lines.
Chicago represents not less than two-thirds of the
manufacturing potentiality of the entire state of Illinois.
The factories of the city and the suburbs and the towns,
practically a part of Chicago, are increasing in number
and in the value of their output, at a rate greater than
all the rest of the state combined. This is in a measure
largely due to the convenience of transportation facili-
ties, the ability to secure power without a large invest-
ment for a motive plant and the general accessibility
to the market. Some of the larger institutions, in
order to avoid the annoyance of labor troubles and the
great investment in realty have gone to country towns,
but this had no appreciable effect on the city's steady,
onward growth. The effect, however, has been to give
the country outside of Chicago an increase in the num-
ber of wrage earners. The increase in the number of
factory workers in Chicago, during the last fifteen years
has been somewhat over fifty per cent. For the rest
of the state the increase has been over sixty per cent.
This same rate of increase holds good throughout the
state as to the total wages paid and the value of
products. As many of the industries have gone to
nearby towns, their advantages and increases can all
be justly recorded as part of Chicago's tremendous
industrial growth.
The Republic Iron &, Steel Company was incor-
porated May 3, 1899, under the laws of the state of
New Jersey, with a capital stock of $55,000,000. A
large number of the most prominent steel companies
in the country were consolidated under one manage-
ment. The principal products of the company are pig
iron, bar iron and steel, splice bars, steel billets, steel
rails, bolts, nuts, screws, car axles, harrow teeth, T-rails,
agricultural shapes, etc. The annual capacity of the
plants exceeds 1,000,000 tons of finished iron and steel,
and 600,000 tons of pig iron.
The capital stock authorized $25,000,000 7 per cent
cumulative preferred and $30,000,000 common, each of
the par value of $100 per share; $20,852,000 of the pre-
ferred and $27,352,000 of the common stocks are issued
and outstanding, of which the company holds in its
treasury $435,100 of the preferred and $161,000 of the
common stock. The preferred stockholders are entitled
to priority as to assets and dividends.
Dividends on preferred 7 per cent per annum pay-
able quarterly, were paid regularly from October i,
1899, to October i, 1903. None since. The fiscal
year ends June 30. The registrar of stock is the Chase
National Sank, New York, and the stock transfer
office is the City Trust Company, New York. The
stock transfer books close about twenty days before the
date of the annual meeting, and fifteen days before the
date of the payment of the annual dividends. The
annual meeting is the third Wednesday in October at
Jersey City. The bonds consist of $10,000,000 of
thirty-year 5 per cent gold mortgage bonds payable
in 1934.
The company operates the following properties :
Ore Properties — Cambria Mine, Lillie Mine, Mar-
quette Range, Negaunee, Michigan ; Wills Mine,
McKinley, Minnesota; Franklin Mine, Bessemer Mine,
Victoria Mine, Pettit Mine, Kinney Mine, Missabe
Range, Fay Mine, Virginia, Minnesota ; Mahoning Ore
& Steel Co. (three-fiftieths interest), Hibbing, Minne-
sota ; Union Ore Company (one-half interest), Virginia,
Minnesota ; Antoine Ore Company (one-half interest),
Iron Mountain, Michigan ; Brown & Red Hematic Ore
Mines, near Birmingham, Alabama.
Coke Properties — Connellsville Coke Works, Atche-
son, Pennsylvania ; Pioneer Coke Ovens, Thomas, Ala-
bama; Warner Coke Ovens, Birmingham, Alabama
District ; Woodside Coking Coal Lands (Connellsville
District) Nicholson, Pennsylvania.
Coal Properties — Washington County Steam Coal
Lands, Clokeyville, Pennsylvania; Springfield Mine
(Wilmington & Springfield Coal Company), Spring-
field, Illinois; Sayreton Mine, Warner Mine, Thompson
Mine, on Pioneer property near Birmingham, Alabama.
Limestone Properties — Croton Limestone & Brick
Company (interest), New Castle, Pennsylvania; Dale
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
163
Limestone Works (on Pioneer property) near Birming-
ham, Alabama; Union Limestone Company (interest),
Lowellville, Ohio ; Lake Erie Limestone Company,
Carbon, Pennsylvania.
Blast Furnaces — Pioneer, No. I, Pioneer, No. 2,
Pioneer, No. 3, Thomas, Alabama; Atlantic, New Cas-
tle, Pennsylvania : Hannah, Haselton, Yottngstown,
Ohio ; Hall, Sharon, Pennsylvania.
Steel Plants — Bessemer Steel Plant, Bessemer
Steel Rail Mill, Youngstown, Ohio ; Birmingham Open
Hearth Steel Plant, Birmingham, Alabama.
Railroads and Docks — Spring-field & Northern Rail-
road, Springfield, Illinois; Thomas & Sayreton Railway
and other Industrial Railways in Birmingham District,
Sharon Connecting Railroad, Sharon, Pennsylvania;
Madison County Belt Railroad, Alexandria, Indiana;
Mahoning & Shenango Dock (two-ninths interest),
Ashtabula, Ohio ; Union Dock Company (one-ninth
interest), Ashtabula, Ohio.
Rolling Mills — Alexandria Works, Alexandria,
Indiana; Alabama Works, Birmingham, Alabama;
Andrews Works, Youngstown, Ohio; Atlantic Works,
New Castle, Pennsylvania; Birmingham Rolling Mill
Works, Birmingham, Alabama ; Brown-Bonnell Works,
Youngstown, Ohio ; Central Works, Brazil, Indiana ;
Corns Works, Massillon, Ohio ; Eagle Works, Ironton,
Ohio ; Indiana Works, Muncie, Indiana ; Inland Works,
East Chicago, Indiana; Mahoning Valley Works,
Youngstown. Ohio; Muncie Works, Muncie, Indiana;
Mitchell-Tranter Works, Covington, Kentucky ; Sharon
Works, Sharon, Pennsylvania; Sylvan Works, Moline.
Illinois; Springfield Works, Springfield, Illinois; Toledo
Works, Toledo, Ohio; Tudor Works, East St. Louis,
Illinois; Terre Haute Works, Terre Haute, Indiana;
Wabash Works, Terre Haute, Indiana.
These properties include valuable iron and coal
mines, and coal and limestone lands in Pennsylvania.
Alabama, Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota, chief
among them being the Pioneer properties at Birming-
ham, Alabama, which comprises 26,000 acres, of which
14,000 acres are underlaid with coal of excellent qual-
ity, suitable for coking and general steam purposes,
and 10,000 acres, rich in brown and red ores; the Frank-
lin group and the Pettit and Kinney Mines on the
Missabe Range ; Cambria and Lillie Mines on the Mar-
quette Range, an interest in the Mahoning Ore & Steel
Company, and a half interest in the Union Ore Com-
pany, and Antoine Ore Company (all being well-known
iron properties) ; also some 800 acres of coking coal
lands in the Connellsville District, 2,000 acres of steam
coal lands in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and
200 acres steam coal lands in Illinois.
The officers of this company are as follows: Presi-
dent, Alexis W. Thompson ; Chairman Executive Com-
mittee, G. Watson French ; Vice-Presidents : Archibald
W. Houston, J. F. Taylor, W. H. Hassinger, George A.
Baird, Edwin N. Ohl ; Treasurer, John F. Taylor; Sec-
retary and General Auditor, H. L. Rownd; Assistant
Secretary, Charles E. Graves; General Counsel, Harry
Rubens; Solicitor, R. Jones, Jr.; General Sales Agent,
Geo. A. Baird; Assistant General Sales Agent, R. P.
Zint; Purchasing Agent, W. L. Lee; Traffic Manager,
H. R. Moore. Directors: Archibald W. Houston,
L. C. Hanna, Geo. A. Baird, G. Watson French, Alexis
W. Thompson, Harry Rubens, Chas. H. Wacker, John
F. Taylor, George R. Sheldon, William H. Hassinger,
Grant B. Schley, John Crerar, Jno. W. Gates, Chas. S.
Guthrie. Executive Committee : G. Watson French,
Chairman; Alexis W. Thompson, John F. Taylor, Harry
Rubens, George A. Baird, Chas. H. Wacker.
The main office is in the First National Bank build-
ing, Chicago, Illinois. The New York office is at in
Broadway.
The Iroquois Iron Company, one of the largest
plants of its kind in the Middle West, is located on
the Calumet river, and extends from Ninety-fifth
street to the railroad bridge, over which run the trains
M. C. ARMOUR.
of the Baltimore & Ohio, the Fort Wayne and the
Lake Shore roads. The plant's shipping facilities are
excellent; aside from the proximity of the railroads,
their ore docks lie along the Calumet river, which
accommodates the deepest draft vessels which transport
ore from the Lake Superior regions. The annual
capacity of the company's furnaces, which give employ-
ment to over 500 men, is 200,000 tons of foundry and
malleable pig iron, all of which products are made from
164
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Lake Superior and Old Range ores. Their coke for
fuel is brought in trainload lots from the Stonega and
Connellsville districts.
The officers of the Iroquois Iron Company are M.
Cochrane Armour, president ; William A. Rogers, vice-
president; George A. Tripp, secretary and treasurer,
over the old-fashioned center-pier swing bridges is the
absence of any center-pier and large obstructive pier
protection. The supports for the Scherzer Rolling Lift
Bridge are supplied by piers placed upon the sides of
the navigable channel, and upon these the movable parts
of the bridge roll in a vertical direction, and through
VIEW OF IROQUOIS IRON COMPANY'S PLANT.
and Samuel A. Kennedy, superintendent. Mr. Armour,
who is likewise associated with Rogers, Brown & Co.,
sales agent for the Iroquois Company, is a native of
Auburn, New York, where he was born in 1851, of
Scotch parents. He received his education in Michigan
and Wisconsin high schools, and came to Chicago in
1876. He was connected with the Adams & Westlake
Company of this city for ten years, and in 1890 he helped
organize the firm of Rogers, Brown & Co. In 1899
he was elected president of the Iroquois Iron Company,
which position he has since held. He is also vice-presi-
dent of the Rogers Iron Mining Company.
The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge is the invention
of the late William Scherzer, C. E. It fulfills every
requirement of a movable bridge, eliminating, in so
doing, all the objectionable features of a swing bridge
and spanning navigable waters in the simplest and least
expensive manner. The efficiency of this type of bridge
for the accommodation of heavy land and water traffic,
and its many points of superiority over a swing bridge,
have been demonstrated by more than seventy large
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges constructed during the
past ten years and in successful operation for the prin-
cipal railroad companies and municipal corporations
in the United States and abroad.
The chief advantage of Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges
the clear opening thus obtained vessels are enabled to
pass rapidly. A partial opening of the bridge will usually
suffice. The power expended and the time occupied in
opening and closing the bridge are both reduced to a
minimum. The large bridges of this type now in use
are usually opened or closed in thirty seconds, and
receive highway or railroad traffic in less than one
minute from the time the bridge begins to close.
Another important advantage of this type of bridge con-
' sists in the absolute protection which the bridge itself
affords against accidents when opened. In the open
position the bridge itself forms a positive signal and
barrier, absolutely preventing vehicles and pedestrians
from falling into the water, which accidents are very
frequent with swing "bridges and result in large losses
of life.
The first bridge of the Scherzer type was constructed
across the Chicago River at Van Buren street. It was
completed in the spring of 1895, and has been used
continuously by the city of Chicago for the heaviest
highway traffic, and is now carrying both highway and
electric car traffic and giving complete satisfaction.
The four-track railroad bridge of the Scherzer type
conveying the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Rail-
way Company's lines across the Chicago River midway
between Jackson and Van Buren streets was completed
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
165
very soon after the Van Buren street bridge. It is
composed of two similar or duplicate bridges placed
side by side and firmly coupled together so as to oper-
ate as one bridge, or when desired may be uncoupled in
a few minutes and operate separately, thus insuring a
crossing for trains at all times. This bridge is operated
by electricity and is opened or closed within thirty
seconds. The satisfaction which this bridge has given
can be no better shown than by an extract from a letter
to Mr. Scherzer, written by Mr. W. E. Baker, general
manager of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Rail-
way Company, under date of July 12, 1897, in which
he says, referring to this subject :
"It was completed some time before May 6, 1895,
at which date the road was opened and the bridge
placed in active service, since which time it has operated
continuously, and of itself caused no delays to trains, of
which there are and have been, since shortly after the
date of opening the road, about 1,200 daily cross-
requires little power to move it and shows no evidence
of a depreciation, and we are satisfied with it."
The North Halsted street bridge of the Scherzer
type was completed in 1897.
The State street bridge of the Scherzer type was
completed in 1903. It replaced a very obstructive cen-
ter-pier swing bridge, through which modern vessels
could not pass. The new bridge gives a clear channel
for navigation 140 feet wide. It was constructed by
the Sanitary District of Chicago in connection with
similar bridges at Randolph street, Harrison street.
Eighteenth street and other points on the Chicago River
where obstructive center-pier swing bridges had to be
removed in order to secure an unobstructed water flow
and passage for vessels.
Firmness and rigidity under heavy loads is a marked
feature of the Scherzer Bridge, and is due to a great
extent to the simplicity of the bridge structure as com-
pared with other movable bridges now in use. This is
SCHERZER ROLLING LIFT BRIDGE
Across the Chicago River at Entrance to Grand Central Station, Chicago. The Longest Span Bascule Bridge in the World.
ing the bridge. We do not make any charge for motive
power for operating the bridge ; it is too small to be
considered. The bridge is operated, as you know, by
motors, using the current with which we operate the
trains. The bridge has proved rigid. It is rapid to open
and shut, has never shown any signs of failure; it
at once apparent upon inspection of the bridge itself
or the views herewith presented. Whether compared
with the best class of swing bridges now in use, with
the direct lift bridge, of which that at South Halsted
street is an example, or with the various plans of experi-
mental structures intending to do away with the center-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
pier, the Scherzer Bridge has no equal for simplicity,
rigidity, safety, rapidity of operation, economy, effi-
ciency or durability. This is demonstrated by the fact
that the principal railroad companies are rapidly remov-
ing their center-pier swing bridges and replacing them
with modern Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges.
The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
Company constructed a six-track Scherzer Bridge
across Fort Point Channel at the entrance to the South
struction for this company at Cos Cob, Westport, over
the Housatonic River and over the Connecticut River,
Connecticut ; also at Neponset, Massachusetts, and six-
track bridges across the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers,
New York. All of these modern bridges take the place
of discarded center-pier swing bridges. They are
intended to accommodate and expedite the increasing
traffic of the railroad company and to facilitate the
improvement from steam to electric operation of trains.
SCHERZER ROLLING LIFT BRIDGE
Across the Chicago River at State street, Chicago. Invented by William Scherzer, C. E.
Terminal Station, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1899. This
station is one of the largest and most important ter-
minal stations in the world. The Scherzer Bridge was
selected by the railroad company because it fulfilled the
highest requirements of a movable bridge. It has been
so satisfactory that the railroad company removed its
double-track swing bridge at Bridgeport, Connecticut,
and replaced it with a Scherzer Bridge, completed in
1903. Four-track Scherzer Bridges are now under con-
Seven Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges have already
been constructed for Greater New York ; four at Boston,
Massachusetts ; five at Cleveland, Ohio, and other cities
too numerous to mention here.
One of the illustrations herewith shows the double-
track railroad Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge constructed
across the Chicago River at the entrance to the Grand
Central Station, Chicago. This bridge is the longest
span bascule bridge in the world. It is also opened
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
167
more frequently than any other bridge in the world. It
has given perfect satisfaction to the railroad company.
The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company also has
the distinction of having made the designs and plans
for and constructed the eight-track railroad bridge
across the Drainage and Ship Canal, Chicago. This
bridge is used by the Pittsburg. Cincinnati, Chicago &
St. Louis Railway, the Chicago Terminal Traction Rail-
way, the Chicago Junction Railway, and the Baltimore
& Ohio Railway. It is the largest movable railroad
bridge in the world and consists of four double-track
bridges of the Scherzer type placed side by side to be
operated either jointly or separately, as desired.
In England a large Scherzer Bridge has already been
completed for the South Eastern & Chatham Railway,
near London. Others are under construction in Ire-
land, the north of England, Russia and Holland, where
the Scherzer type of bridge is superseding and replac-
ing the trunnion type of bascule bridge.
A distinguished authority has stated : "The Scherzer
type is the bridge of perfection. It is recognized by the
engineering profession as the most perfect bascule
bridge in existence. It is a monument to the inventor."
This statement is verified by the fact that all of the
largest and most important movable bridges constructed
during the past ten years have been bridges of the
Scherzer type.
William Scherzer, the inventor and patentee of the
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges, was born at Peru, La
Salle County, Illinois, on January 27, 1858. His parents
were William and Wilhelmina Scherzer. His early
education was acquired in the public schools of Peru.
Illinois. At the age of fifteen he was placed in charge
of a private tutor with a view of preparing him for
entrance to some European University. At the age of
eighteen he entered the Polytechnicum at Zurich,
Switzerland, to take the four years in civil engineering.
He was graduated with honors in the year 1880.
Upon his return to the United States William Scherzer
was engaged as engineer with the Matthiessen &
Hegeler Zinc Company, remaining with that company
for three years. For the following eight years he was
employed with the Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago
Railway Company, the Keystone Bridge Company and
the Carnegie Steel Company, leaving the latter com-
pany to establish an office as consulting engineer.
One of the problems upon which he was consulted
was the question of a movable bridge to carry the four
tracks of the Metropolitan West Side Elevated Railway
across the Chicago River, to the business center of
Chicago, between the Jackson street and Van Buren
street swing bridges. A swing bridge was impossible
because it would interfere with the movements of both of
the existing swing bridges. One of the ablest American
engineers submitted to the management of the railroad
company a pivot bascule bridge design, similar to the
Tower bascule bridge at London, England, which was
then under construction, and it seemed to be the only
feasible solution of the difficulties, and detail plans were
prepared for the construction of the bridge, but in work-
ing out the details, objectionable features became more
apparent. The bridge question was becoming critical
and the management of the railway company consulted
William Scherzer with reference to overcoming the
objectionable features of the design. After careful study
of the problems. William Scherzer became convinced
that it was impossible to eliminate the objectionable
WILLIAM SCHERZER.
Inventor of the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges.
features of the pivot or trunnion type of bascule bridge.
As the railroad was nearing completion, the bridge
problem became very critical and induced William
Scherzer to endeavor to solve the problem on entirely
new lines. This ultimately led to his invention of the
type of bridge known as the Scherzer Rolling Lift
Bridge. He prepared a design for a four-track rolling
lift bridge, which was at once adopted by the railroad
company for construction. It was also decided by the
railroad company and city authorities to remove the
obstructive center-pier swing bridge at Van Buren
street and replace it with a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge.
The plans for both of these bridges were completed by
William Scherzer shortly before his death, which
occurred on July 20, 1893.
The complete success of the above-mentioned
168
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
bridges has been the foundation for the unparalleled
success and rapid adoption and use of the Scherzer Roll-
ing Lift Bridge throughout the world. The invention
of the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge formed a new era
in movable bridge construction, enabling and facilitating
the improvement of waterways and the accommodation
of the ever-increasing railroad, electric railroad and
highway traffic.
William Scherzer was unmarried. He was a member
of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Society
of Engineers for Western Pennsylvania, the Western
Society of Engineers, The American Society for the
Advancement of Science, and the University Club of
Chicago, besides a number of social clubs.
Albert H. Scherzer, president and chief engineer of
The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company, was born
at Peru, La Salle County, Illinois, and is the son of
ALBERT H. SCHERZER.
President and Chief Engineer, The Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company.
William and Wilhelmina Scherzer. After completing his
preliminary education at the high school of his native
city, he went to Europe, where considerable time was
devoted to study at the universities in Zurich, Switzer-
land. Returning to this country in 1882, he became iden-
tified with the Illinois Zinc Company of Peru, Illinois,
one of the largest firms in the world engaged in the
smelting and rolling of sheet zinc, remaining with that
company for the following eight years. In 1890 Mr.
Scherzer came to Chicago and entered the Union Col-
lege of Law, pursuing the regular course leading to the
degree of LL. B., and graduating therefrom with the
class of '92. He subsequently entered upon the practice
of his profession, but in 1893, upon the death of his
brother, the late William Scherzer, the inventor and
patentee of the Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridges, he gave
his attention to the development of the business estab-
lished by him.
Mr. Scherzer has made an exhaustive study of mov-
able bridges, and in pursuit of his studies along this line
has traveled extensively throughout both this country
and Europe, visiting all the principal structures of that
class.
Under Mr. Scherzer's management the scope of the
business has been very widely extended. In addition
to the many large railroad, electric railroad and highway
bridges of the Scherzer type in successful operation,
more than thirty of the largest movable bridges in the
world are now under construction in the United States
and abroad upon the designs and plans and under the
supervision of the Scherzer Company. The very high
standing which this company has attained under the
direction of Mr. Scherzer is evidenced by the fact that
they are retained as consulting engineers by the prin-
cipal railroad companies and the largest municipal cor-
porations for the largest, most important and difficult
movable bridges.
Mr. Scherzer was married to Miss Donna Gunckel
Adair of Dayton, Ohio, in May, 1902.
Samuel Worthington McMunn, president and treas-
urer of the Kindl Car Truck Company, is one of the
best known manufacturers in Chicago. His offices are
at 135 Adams street. He has extensive business inter-
ests both in Chicago and throughout the West. Mr.
McMunn was born at Sharon, Noble County, Ohio,
March 20, 1850, the son of Isaac and Maria McMunn.
He attended the public schools and later Sharon Acad-
emy in his home town. For some time after leaving
the academy he taught school, when he entered business
in the employ of the Ohio River Salt Company at St.
Louis and later became a member of the firm of G. L.
Joy & Company, the successors to that concern.
Shortly after this he became president of the American
Transportation Company and also president of the
American Brake Company. From 1884 to 1889 he
lived in New York as the manager of the Consolidated
Coupling Company. In the latter year Mr. McMunn
moved to Pittsburg, where he was identified for five
years with the Carnegie Steel Company. He came to
Chicago in 1894 as the manager of the Otis Steel Com-
pany. He later became interested in the Kindl Car
Truck Company and is at present the active head and
treasurer of that concern. Mr. McMunn is also a di-
rector of the Raymond Concrete Pile Company, second
vice-president of the Oro Verde Mining Company of
Colorado, director of the Page Woven Wire Fence
Company, president of the United States Steel Piling
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
171
McCord is president of the Chicago & Calumet River
Railroad Company.
Mr. McCord was married on December 26, 1896,
to Emily Davis Ro\ve of Evanston, daughter of Mrs.
C. H. Rowe. They have one daughter, three years old.
He is a member of the Chicago Club, the Union
League Club, the University Club and the Princeton
Club of New York. Mr. McCord is an enthusiastic
automobilist and his interest in golf is evidenced by
membership in both the Glen View Club and the Skokie
Country Club.
John J. Cummings was born in Christian County.
Illinois, July 25, 1874. He is president of the Cum-
mings Car Company, the largest manufacturers of street
ground railway in London uses their trucks and when
the Paris & Versailles division of the Western Railway
of France was built, they were authorized to purchase
the best equipment in America, and they bought the
trucks from this firm, although Chicago is 1,000 miles
inland. The entire lines owned by the Australian gov-
ernment are furnished with them, the same being true
of the cities of Havana, Cuba, and Glasgow, Scotland,
Brazil and Peru are fitted out as well, and even Siam
has its quota.
The Cummings Car Company plant at Paris, Illi-
nois, which has attracted the attention of the industrial
world, is known throughout the country as the most
modern manufacturing plant of its kind in the United
VIEW OF CUMMINGS CAR COMPANY'S PLANT.
railway cars in this state, and also president of the
McGuire-Cummings Manufacturing Company, builders
of trucks, snow sweepers, sprinklers, electric locomo-
tives and other railway specialties.
This latter company has been in business twenty-
one years, and is known almost as well in foreign coun-
tries as at home. Their trucks are running on all the
elevated and surface lines in Chicago, and on railways
in all parts of the country, from New York to San
Francisco, as well as in Canada. These companies
employ about 1,000 men, and have shipped their
product to all parts of the globe. In Africa, South
America, Cuba, Australia, England, Japan and the
Continent are seen rolling stock manufactured by them.
The Metropolitan tramways of London use their pneu-
matic sprinkling cars. The "Tuppenny Tube" under-
states, and covers thirty acres. The east building is
the main erecting shop, 600 feet long by 175 feet wide,
with floor space for 140 cars. It is crossed with fire
walls. The buildings east of this shop include a finish-
ing shop, cabinet shop, wood-working machine shop,
truck shop, machine shop and forging shop. Between
these and the main erecting shop is a 76-foot transfer
table, operating electrically the full length of the fac-
tories and to the car-loading table. An iron and steel
warehouse and three dry lumber warehouses, a power
plant with a capacity of 700 horsepower and entire elec-
tric transmission and brick dry kilns, with the latest
improved lumber-drying appliances, complete the
equipment of this model institution. The plant
embodies the most modern features of first-class con-
struction, evidenced by the lowest insurance rate of any
172
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
car plant in the United States. It is located on
the Big Four, New York Central Lines, Cairo Divi-
sion of the Big Four and the Vandalia-Pennsylvania
system.
Chicago Bridge & Iron Works. Going in any direc-
tion from Chicago the traveler will notice in many of
the small cities and villages steel water towers or large
round-bottom tanks high in air. If the traveler were
to examine the manufacturer's stamp on tower or tank
he would find that most of them had been constructed
by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Works.
Up to 1894 the company had been engaged in the
building of bridges, but about that year the small towns
throughout the country began to construct waterworks
systems and the Chicago Bridge & Iron Works was
the first concern in the field to meet the demand for
tanks and towers. The concern developed the present
its energies to the manufacture and erection of highway
and railway bridges and many a country road bears tes-
timony to its industry.
In 1903 the properties of the Chicago Bridge &
Iron Company were taken over by Mr. Horace E.
Horton, who for some time had been the owner of all
the stock of the company. Since that time his business
has been transacted under the name of the Chicago
Bridge & Iron Works. The officers of the company
are Horace E. Horton, proprietor; George T. Horton,
engineer and manager; Henry W. Wilder, office director.
Alfred Stromberg, founder and vice-president of the
Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Manufacturing Com-
pany of Chicago, and Rochester, New York, whose
plant is recognized as the most extensive and complete
in the independent telephone field of America, is a native
of Sweden, born near the city of Stockholm, March 9,
VIEW OF PLANT, CHICAGO BRIDGE & IRON WORKS.
type of hemispherical bottom, steel storage tanks for
pressure, a large number of which have been constructed
within the last ten years. The manufacture of water
towers followed and the company became more widely
known as a builder of water tanks and towers than of
bridges. For the same reason it has become more
widely known throughout the United States than any
other bridge company.
The Chicago Bridge & Iron Works has erected
water towers in every state in the Union except six, and
has built a large number in Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
The company's plant is located in Washington Heights
at One Hundred and Fifth and Throop streets, between
the main lines of the Rock Island and Pan Handle rail-
roads. On this site, which is about ten acres in area, the
company built its first shop in 1889. It was constructed
of wood and in the fall of 1897 was destroyed by fire.
The following spring it was rebuilt entirely of brick
and steel. For the first five years the company devoted
1 86 1. Mechanical achievement was a familiar idea to
him from infancy, he being the son of Andrew Strom-
berg, one of the largest threshing-machine manufac-
turers in Sweden. His early training in electrical work
he acquired in his native country, side by side with
L. M. Erickson, the well-known European telephone
manufacturer. External influences, however, served
to indicate the direction in which the marked abilities
and energies of the boy were to operate, and whetted
his enthusiasm in the progressive field of labor in which
he has won his great success. Before coming to America
he had some practical experience in his chosen spe-
cialty, having assisted in the tests of the first pair of
telephone instruments sent to Stockholm by the Bel!
Telephone Company and having had charge of part of
the work of installing their exchange, and later he con-
ducted the construction and installation of numerous
exchanges throughout the northern peninsula and Den-
mark.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
173
The year of 1884 found him entering upon his career
in this country in the repair department of the Chicago
Telephone Company, where he was given full charge,
not only of the repairing but the changing of all instru-
ments and the practical application of new ideas issuing
from the engineering department. In 1885 young
Stromberg entered the instrument department of the
Bell Telephone Company in Chicago, and for the next
five years was prominently connected with the manu-
facturing department of the company's rapidly expand-
ing business, inventing in the meantime a number of
improvements, some of which are still used by that
company.
In 1890 he associated himself with the Chicago Elec-
tric Protective Company as superintendent of their
burglar alarm system, and while with that company
made many improvements and inventions, which are
still utilized by them, and through which was practi-
cally secured to them the entire control of this line of
business against the strongest opposition by the Bell
Telephone Company.
Upon the expiration of the fundamental patents of
the telephone receiver in 1893, Mr. Stromberg, with
Mr. Andrew^ Carlson, organized the Stromberg-Carlson
Telephone Manufacturing Company, whose growth
since that year, both in point of industrial dimensions
and of reputation, is among the notable developments
in the electrical field. The company was incorporated
and all the capital possessed by Mr. Stromberg and Mr
Carlson, which was considerable, was put in the busi-
ness. The status of the company was sound. Conscien-
tious care was taken not to infringe any valid patent
claims of other concerns, and the electrical and
mechanical engineers employed were experts in their
special lines. The enterprise has always been under the
control of Mr. Stromberg and Mr. Carlson. The estab-
lishment was located on West Jackson boulevard and
Clinton street, the massive brick building and the nearly
half of a block it covers, being owned by the company
and valued at $400,000. From fifteen 'phones per day
the output increased to seven ruindred. Nearly all the
improvements manufactured by the company are pro-
tected by United States patents, issued to Mr. Strom-
berg or to him and Mr. Carlson jointly, and these gen-
tlemen have done more for the independent telephone
patrons than all the other manufacturers combined.
By the beginning of 1902 the business had grown
to such proportions that additional capital was neces-
sary to meet the demands upon the company for its
apparatus and telephones, and Mr. Stromberg suc-
ceeded in interesting capital from Rochester, New York.
The result was that the Stromberg-Carlson Telephone
Manufacturing Company was organized under the laws
of the State of New York, and succeeded to the busi-
ness of the company, which had been organized under
the laws of Illinois, and Mr. Stromberg was made vice-
president of the new company. The capital of the new
company was $3,000,000, and plans were made for
building another factory in Rochester. Since that time
the capital has been increased, owing to the growing
business of the company, and now it is $6,000,000, and
the factory at Rochester has been built covering over
seven acres of floor space, and all the latest and best
machinery has been put in to manufacture the highest
type of apparatus and instruments.
The company employs about 3,000 people in all
departments, and Mr. Stromberg's relations with his
force and his good judgment in selecting employees are
the most satisfactory and creditable. He is just in every
ALFRED STROMBERG.
way and as his business has prospered he has advanced
the pay of his men without solicitation. Throughout
his rise to his present enviable position he has main-
tained the same pleasant attitude toward his help and
given the same careful attention to the needs of his
patrons, so that by both classes he is much appreciated.
Mr. Stromberg is a family man, having been
married in 1866 to Miss Ellen Johnson of Chicago.
They have a family of four children, Minnie, Alice, Emil
and Eva. In politics Mr. Stromberg is a stanch Repub-
lican, but has never aspired to any prominence in this
direction, his energies and interest having been concen-
trated upon his chosen industry. One who has enjoyed
a long business acquaintance with our subject says of
him :
''In some respects Mr. Stromberg is the most
remarkable man I have ever known. Of humble origin,
174
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
he lias by native ability, coupled with persistent effort,
risen to his present high position in the business world
as head of its largest independent telephone company.
His quick perception enables him to grasp a situation
at once and to master every detail of the proposition
involved. His life is wrapped up in his enterprise, and
he has put work into it which no one can appreciate
except those who are intimately associated with him.
A capable man at the outset, he has constantly
developed with the growth of his business interests.
From a working mechanic with a daily wage of two dol-
pendent factory in the city, if not in the entire country,
is that of the Automatic Electric Company, manufactur-
ing automatic telephone switchboards and apparatus.
This company is the successor of the Strowger Auto-
matic Telephone Exchange in the manufacturing field.
Three or four years before the launching of the Inde-
pendent telephone movement, A. B. Strowger brought
to Chicago a crude model of an apparatus designed to
do away with telephone operators. This was called
an automatic telephone switch. Strowger showed his
invention to various people in an endeavor to secure
AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC COMPANY'S PLANT.
lars to a man of large affairs arid wealth in the short
space of a dozen years is a record which few can boast ;
but with it Mr. Stromberg has retained his simple and
direct manners and the respect and esteem of his asso-
ciates."
Automatic Electric Company. Following the birth
of the independent telephone movement, some ten
years ago, Chicago became the center for the manufac-
ture of apparatus for the independent companies, and
at this date there are a score or more of these factories
making everything from complete telephone plants
down to the smallest appurtenances. The largest inde-
financial backing. Mr. Joseph Harris was the first to
recognize the latent commercial and financial possibili-
ties in the invention and, with A. E. Keith and others,
organized the Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange
for the purpose of controlling the Strowger patents and
developing and manufacturing the switch. Offices were
opened in Chicago and an experimental station was
established at La Porte, Indiana, in 1892, and used for
three years. Several small exchanges were built, some
of which, notably those at Albuquerque, New Mexico,
and Manchester, Iowa, are still in operation and giving
satisfactory service.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
175
Mr. Harris and his associates allied themselves with
the independent telephone movement at its commence-
ment and therefore deserve to be classed among the
pioneers in it, and the first in the automatic field.
During the ten years in which the Strowger Automatic
Telephone Exchange manufactured the switches more
effort was devoted to bringing the apparatus up to a
high standard of mechanical excellence than to- dispos-
ing of the product, and it was not until the organization
of the Automatic Electric Company, in 1901, that any
great amount of progress was made in the selling of the
apparatus. At that time, by additional patents and
improvements, the system had advanced so far in its
development that larger things could be and were under-
taken.
The first exchange of 20,000 capacity was built in
Dayton, Ohio. It has an installation of 6,000 stations.
This exchange was put in operation on June i, 1903.
About the same time the first exchange with 100,000
capacity was installed in Chicago, for the Illinois Tunnel
Company with nearly 10,000 stations in operation.
The largest exchange outside of Chicago is that at
Los Angeles, California, which was completed in
August, 1905, with more than 9,000 lines. The ulti-
mate capacity of the Los Angeles exchange is 100,000
lines, the same as that of the Chicago exchange. Other
cities in which automatic exchanges have been installed
and are in operation at present, are : Grand Rapids,
Battle Creek, Pentwater and Traverse City, Michigan ;
Columbus, Dayton, Van Wert and St. Mary's, Ohio;
Lincoln and Hastings, Nebraska; Portland, Lewiston
and Auburn, Maine; San Diego, Riverside, Ocean Park
and Sawtelle, California; Wilmington, Delaware; Fall
River and New Bedford, Massachusetts; and a number
of smaller places. Other cities in which the automatic
telephone exchange has been adopted, and at the
present writing (August, 1905), is being built or
installed, are: Sioux City, Iowa; El Paso, Texas;
Havana and Marianao, Cuba ; Portland, Oregon ; and
several smaller places.
The officers of the Automatic Electric Company are :
C. D. Simpson, Scranton, Pa., president; Joseph Harris,
Chicago, vice-president and general manager; C. C.
Wheeler, Chicago, secretary; A. G. Wheeler, Jr., New
York, treasurer; and the following, in addition to the
above-mentioned gentlemen, are directors : A. G.
Wheeler, J. B. Russell and C. B. Eddy. A. E. Keith is
general superintendent and chief engineer.
The general offices and manufacturing plant of the
company are located in a large six-story, brick building
on the southwest corner of Van Buren and Morgan
streets, Chicago. The factory is one of the most com-
pletely equipped in the country for its work. Nearly
eight hundred hands are employed, and the most mod-
ern machinery, much of it automatic, is in use. So
complete is the plant and the system of manufacturing
that an entire automatic exchange of five hundred lines
can be built in one day. The automatic telephone sys-
tem manufactured by this company has proven itself
a mechanical, commercial and financial success. It is
revolutionizing the telephone business. The Automatic
Electric Company is still allied with the independent
telephone movement and sells only to independent
companies.
E. Schneider & Ca., one of the largest manufacturers
in the world of candles, oil and glycerine, has been
located in Chicago since 1865. The corporation was
founded in St. Louis in 1842, and has had a continuous
existence under the same name for sixty-three years.
The firm was first organized for the manufacture of
soaps, in addition to the lines to which it now confines
its energies. E. Schneider was the company's first
president and Anthony Schmitt entered office at the
same time as secretary and treasurer.
When the firm moved its office and factory to Chi-
cago, it found that another concern was located here
manufacturing the same lines. By mutual agreement
E. Schneider & Co., discontinued the manufacture of
soaps, which had grown to a large proportion of its
business, and in return the rival concern abandoned the
field as far as the manufacture of candles, oil and glyc-
erine were concerned.
The "stearic wax" candles of E. Schneider & Co.
are now favorably known in every mining district of the
world. The concern specializes in the making of can-
dles for mining and such purposes. The glycerine it
produces is in the crude state for trade purposes. Ever
since the concern was incorporated in 1881, it has been
a close corporation. After the death of Mr. E. Schnei-
der, in 1889, his business associate, Anthony Schmitt,
succeeded as president of the corporation. Mr. Schmitt
has continued in that office since then. The other
executive officers of the corporation are : A. G.
Schmitt, vice-president and treasurer, and C. P. Wood-
cock, secretary, who has been connected with the con-
cern for many years.
The main offices of E. Schneider & Co., are in the
Fisher building, 277 Dearborn street. Its factory occu-
pies the block fronting on Wallace street and bounded
by Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth streets.
The Cable Company, in the course of twenty-five
years, has developed from a factory of insignificant
size to the greatest institution manufacturing pianos and
organs in the world. This phenomenal growth has been
due largely to the two great factors which enter into
the conduct of almost all institutions which reach
supremacy — the production of articles offered at prices
which give the buyer the full measure of value and an
17G
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
organization by which manufacturing and selling can
be carried on with the highest efficiency.
The results of the policy which has directed the
interests of this company are shown in two immense fac-
tories, branch houses in leading cities, agencies in all
parts of the United States and Europe and a business
which covers both hemispheres.
The productions of The Cable Company comprise
all grades of pianos and organs from the reliable, moder-
ate-priced instrument to the masterpiece of design and
craftsmanship. It has always been the accomplished
CABLE BUILDING.
purpose of this institution to make every instrument,
whatever its grade, the best in every feature that could
be offered at a given price. The natural consequence
has been that these instruments have set the standard
in their respective classes and have attained an unparal-
leled popularity.
In the entire conduct of its business this company
has followed broad-gauge, progressive methods which
have fully kept pace with the advance of modern com-
mercial life. To visit its factories and offices is to be
impressed at once with the splendid organization of
even- department, the remarkable system by which
even' department co-operates with all the others and
with the executive ability which is demonstrated in their
operation.
It has always been the custom of the Cable Com-
pany to employ supervising talent of the highest order,
to select its workmen with regard to both skill and
personal character and to train each one in some spe-
cial operation. It has at its command, therefore, a force
of specialists who naturally are much more accurate
in the performance of their work than any general
mechanic can be.
A department is maintained where special machinery
is designed and built exclusively for use in the com-
pany's factories, and by this means it has introduced
many devices which have increased the efficiency of
operations to a remarkable degree and made it possible
to reduce the cost of manufacturing to a minimum,
and at the same time to improve the quality of the
productions.
Back of all this splendid manufacturing organiza-
tion and office system is a policy, unhampered by tra-
ditions, which does not hesitate to establish precedents ;
a policy that points the way toward larger growth and
greater prosperity, and it is but a natural result that
such an institution should have attained pre-eminence in
its field.
The Stegcr Piano Company owes its existence and
success to John V. Steger, its president and founder.
In the year 1854, in the little city of Ulm, Wurtemburg,
South Germany, John V. Steger was born, under hum-
ble and unauspicious circumstances. At the age of four-
teen he was apprenticed to a woodworker by his father,
who was himself a cabinetmaker. He remained in his
employ for three years, and then started for America.
Having no knowledge of the English language, with
a capital of but twelve cents, alone in a foreign land and
among utter strangers, it was this sturdy German lad
"started out to make his fortune."
The first thing this young man did was to form a
resolution which was never afterward broken. It was
to live within his resources. Having as a capital with
which to start in life but twelve cents, he made an expen-
diture of five cents for a piece of pie, reserving the seven
cents as a capital against need until he should have
earned something. Within six hours John V. Steger was
employed. He was engaged at rough carpenter work in
the reconstruction of ice-houses on the Hudson river.
It was not a desirable position, as he was fitted for
something better, being fully competent to earn more
than he would receive for this work, but it was the best
available, and he took it. Within two months he
returned to New York with his savings, which amounted
to more than one-half of his wages. This sum he
divided into two equal portions, one that was not to
be expended under any circumstances, the other to
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
177
supply his wants and necessities until he could again
get work.
Shortly afterward he secured a position at the bench
as a cabinetmaker, and for a year his wages averaged
$10.50 per week. Of this amount he invariably placed
$5.50 into his reserve fund; always this much, sometimes
more. He then resolved to seek a new location in Chi-
cago. He was also intensely desirous of acquiring a
all this period the indomitable purpose to accumulate
prevailed. The sum of $12 was allowed for household
expenses, and the balance of his earnings was placed in
a bank. The sum grew until it reached $3,900, when it
was withdrawn from the bank and invested in the piano
business, the location chosen being 154 State street.
In 1 88 1 a change was made to 109 Wabash avenue,
the same having become necessary by reason of greatly
. -I_ll
STEGER PIANO WORKS.
better knowledge of the English language, and it is
needless to say that whatever John V. Steger set out to
do he accomplished.
After being in this country but two years, and, being
a young man of rare good sense, he realized that he
could not prosper if he remained single. Accordingly
he sought the hand in marriage and was wed to Miss
Louise R. Jacobs, a daughter of one of Chicago's first
settlers.
For eight years he worked for others, but during
12
increased business, which was annually becoming larger
in volume. His quarters here were much more exten-
sive than his former location, the rental being twelve
times in excess. Within three years another change was
necessitated by the demands for space, and the location
chosen was Adams street and Wabash avenue. Here he
lost everything in the Langham Hotel fire, and
devoted the next four years in building up his business
at State and Jackson streets. In 1891 he made his final
removal to his present location, northeast corner of
178
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Jackson boulevard and Wabash avenue, where he has
established a trade second to none in the United States.
Mr. Steger has surrounded himself with a corps of
able and efficient assistants, but still devotes his time
to the active management of the immense interests con-
nected with the business. He is in constant touch with
his men. As fully and thoroughly acquainted with every
detail of the vast works as is the most efficient of his
employees, Mr. Steger evinces an interest in all that is
going on, and with tireless energy superintends the oper-
ations, and from early morning until late at night care-
fully oversees the vast establishment, as well as keeping
in touch with the selling branch of the business. This
involves tireless, ceaseless vigilance, and as "eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty," so John V. Steger
believes it the price of business success.
In the year 1891 there was purchased in the suburb
of Chicago twenty acres of land, and a single building
erected as a piano factory, in which the manufacturing
of the Steger pianos was begun. To-day living in Steger
are about 2,500 persons mainly composed of workmen
in the extensive Steger piano manufacturing plant.
Another such a town does not exist on the face of the
JOHN V. STEGER.
earth, and in no other collection of human beings of a
similar extent in numbers does peace, happiness, plenty
and contentment reign as here. Wherefore, John V.
Steger may be rightly accounted as one who loves his
fellowmen.
The United States Peat Fuel Company is indeed
a name to conjure with, for its business bids fair to
rival some of the great industrial organizations of this
century. Its general offices in the Fort Dearborn build-
ing are among the most complete and elegant in this
city, while its officers and directors are all men of affairs
and prominence in commercial circles.
Henry D. Bushnell, the president of the company,
is a fitting head for this great institution. He is consicl-
HENRY D. BUSHNELL.
ered an authority on corporate organization and devel-
opment, and is backed with exceptional executive
knowledge and ability, the outgrowth of a lifetime of
labor in the vineyard of corporate management. Mr.
Bushnell is also the executive head of one of the largest
American controlled foreign trading and transporta-
tion companies and a director in several other corpora-
tions of moment in the business realm. His services
are in great demand and his advice is sought almost
daily upon troublesome and intricate corporate ques-
tions by prominent business men throughout the United
States. Had Mr. Bushnell turned his energies to law
instead of to commerce there is no question but what he
would have stood head and shoulders among the great
corporation lawyers of this country. This fact, coupled
with his far-seeing executive ability, eminently qualifies
him to direct the tremendous possibilities of the peat
fuel business.
John Addison, first vice-president, was for over
thirty years one of Chicago's most noted architects, a
gentleman of wide social and business acquaintance and
recognized integrity. Many of this city's largest busi-
ness edifices and palatial homes stand as monuments
to his artistic talents and construction management.
The other officers of the company are: Murry A.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
179
Pierson, treasurer; Chas. H. Ade, secretary; J. Campbell
Morrison, consulting engineer ; Dave Williams, mechan-
ical engineer, and Daniel F. Flannery, general-attorney.
All of these men are prominent in the business, profes-
sional, social, club and fraternity life of Chicago, but
space forbids a detailed record of their individual accom-
plishments and successes.
The United States Peat Fuel Company controls a
monopolistic line of patents on the manufacture of peat
fuel in this and some fifteen foreign countries. It is
the parent organization governing the industry under
its patented processes, systems and machinery in every
land. A large number of subsidiary corporations have
been organized in the United States and throughout the
world. The list is growing steadily, and there seems no
reasonable doubt but what the number of subsidiary
plants paying tribute to the parent company will reach
into the thousands.
The industry is fast assuming gigantic proportions,
and by some well informed authorities it is predicted
that the business controlled by this corporation will
within the years to come equal in magnitude and influ-
ence that of coal mining. It must of necessity reach out
and its branches will be permanent industrial factors
in every civilized country.
The company is now manufacturing its fuel in com-
mercial quantities, and has contracted for the installa-
tion of other large plants — one of which is to be located
a few miles from the business center of Chicago. This
factory will be the mecca for engineers and fuel experts
from every corner of the globe.
The fuel has been demonstrated to be fully the equal
of high-grade anthracite coal, but is smokeless, sulphur-
less, sootless and clinkerless. The cost of manufacture is
below the cost of mining coal, and the crude material
used is nothing more or less than common bog, swamp
or marsh land.
But little stretch of imagination is necessary to fully
realize the present and future commanding influence of
this company, for by its efforts and under its process
and machinery the vast bog lands of the earth are rap-
idly being converted into fuel mines of stupendous
output and value.
The Corn Products Company was organized March
i, 1902, for the production from corn of glucose, grape
sugars, corn syrups, various grades of laundry and
edible starches, dextrines of all grades and British gums.
It is an amalgamation of a number of subsidiary organ-
izations, each manufacturing one or more of the
products of corn, and its expansion along only one of
many lines has been such that it makes practically every
brand of laundry and edible starch now on the market.
The Corn Products Company grinds in the manufac-
ture of its multitudinous products, thirty-five million
PLANT OF THE CORN PRODUCTS COMPANY.
180
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
bushels of corn per annum, or an amount equaling over
one-fourth of the corn exported by the United States.
Its works and factories, giving employment to six thou-
sand persons, are located in fifteen different cities and
towns as follows : Chicago, Illinois ; Buffalo, Oswego
and Glen Cove, New York; Lockland and St. Bernard,
Ohio ; Indianapolis, Indiana ; Nebraska City, Nebraska ;
Waukegan, Rockford, Peoria and Pekin, Illinois ; and
Des Moines, Davenport and Marshalltown, Iowa.
Its Chicago factor}', located at West Taylor street
and the river, covers an area of eight acres and is
probably the largest, most modern and best equipped
factory in the world. At this one factory of the com-
pany the amount of corn ground daily is thirty thou-
sand bushels.
Corn syrup (glucose) and allied products have been
produced for some years past, but the development of
their manufacture and their popularization among con-
sumers with the consequent increase of the demand to
an enormous extent, both domestic and foreign, has
been a matter of the last few years. The results have
been most profitable to the American farmer since it
has developed uses for corn formerly unpracticed, and
thus supplies a daily cash buyer for the large surplus of
this commodity. In affording employment in a new
field, and in the consumption of coal, tin and other
products necessary to its manufacture, also, the com-
pany occupies a distinct and important place in the
nation's economy.
Among the well-known starches which it produces
are Kingsford's Silver Gloss, a laundry starch, and
Kingsford's Corn Starch, both of which brands have
long been household necessities, and the high quality
of which the Corn Products Company has maintained.
Of corn syrups, its best known product is "Karo"
Corn Syrup, compounded of 85 per cent of corn syrup
and 15 per cent of cane syrup. It is a predigested
article of food of exceptional purity, manufactured from
starch contained in corn and its use is general, the low
price at which it can be bought, added to its flavor and
\vholesomeness, popularizing it throughout the world.
The officers of the Corn Products Company are :
C. H. Matthiessen, President : C. L. Glass, Vice-Presi-
dent and Secretary; Benjamin Graham, Treasurer.
Executive Committee: C. H. Matthiessen, W. J. Cal-
houn, Charles E. Glass.
GARFIELD PARK.
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHICAGO'S BUSINESS INTERESTS.
ARSHALL FIELD & COM-
PANY. The name of Marshall
Field and business integrity have
become synonymous in Chicago
and the West. In the jobbing
trade and the retail business of
the great firm of Marshall
Field & Company, this repu-
tation for square dealing is
the foundation stone of its suc-
cess. Of the millions controlled
by it this good name is its chief asset.
This application of the princi-
ple of "a square deal" has resulted in mak-
ing this company the largest mercantile institution
in the world. Of the great throngs of buyers who
enter Marshall Field & Company's establishments
every day, there is not one of them but feels that
every penny spent there will purchase its full value
of the best goods of the kind the market affords. The
neatly wrapped bundles bearing the name of "Marshall
Field & Company" have upon them the stamp and guar-
antee of integrity and quality.
The very atmosphere of the establishment is refresh-
ing. The uniform courtesy of every employee, the con-
sideration they show to one another, the absolute
frankness with which even the smallest transaction is
carried on, the lack of all quibbling — all make for one
end — the complete satisfaction of the purchasing public.
It is the working out of the basic principle of the con-
cern. "A satisfied customer first, a profit second,'' is
the fundamental rule every employee of the store must
follow. This has bred a confidence that makes every
man, woman or child who enters the great house of
Marshall Field & Company feel confident of fair and
courteous treatment. And this confidence is indeed the
greatest of all Marshall Field's millions of fairly won
fortunes.
The establishments of Marshall Field & Company
present an array of merchandise as complete as human
ingenuity, energy and wealth can secure. Its buying
organization is the largest single factor in the world's
markets. Every country or province produces some-
thing in art, material or manufactures that goes to make
up the stock. Permanent buying offices are maintained
at New York, Paris, Manchester, Nottingham, Brad-
ford, Chemnitz, Calais, St. Gall, Lyons, Plaueu, Anna-
berg and Yokohama. In Kashmir, India, there is a
large rug factory, operating 178 looms, controlled by
Marshall Field & Company. The outputs of numerous
other factories in almost every country are controlled
by this house.
The great retail store occupies practically the entire
block bounded by State, Randolph and Washington
streets and Wabash avenue. The lloor area is now
about one million square feet, equivalent to twenty-
three acres or eleven city blocks of ordinary size. The
frontage on State street is 385 feet ; on Washington, 341
feet; on Randolph, 190 feet; and on Wabash avenue,
266 feet. A new 1 2-story building, now in process of
erection, on Wabash avenue, will add about 30 per cent
to the present area of the retail premises, making a total
area of 1,300,000 square feet, or about 30 acres. The
ultimate plan is to make the State street frontage of a
uniform height of twelve stories of solid granite with
an imposing central entrance. Over half of this front-
age is now occupied by such a building. The main
entrance on State street is marked by four large granite
monolith columns and when the building to the south,
extending to Washington street, is completed, will form,
as it now does, the central feature of the State street
front. The principal building is o{ steel construction,
181
182
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
faced with gray granite — a simple and massive style of
architecture. The foundation for this structure con-
sists of 84 concrete caissons sunk down 100 feet to
"hard-pan."
Two immense light shafts extend from the first floor
to the skylights, the extreme height being 234 feet. An
ornamental iron and mahogany railing encloses the
court on each floor. The view from the top story down
is a grand panorama of a portion of the interior. The
large white columns extending the length of the
tending one entire block from Washington street to
Randolph street, a distance of 385 feet. The showcases
on either side are of solid mahogany and plate glass, the
framework being of the lightest possible construction,
which gives the effect of the cases being practically of
solid glass. They are brilliantly lighted by invisible
incandescents and, filled as they are with the most
beautiful merchandise which the store affords, form a
magnificent sight. This main aisle may be said to be
one of the show places of Chicago, great throngs of
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY'S WHOLESALE HOUSE.
store form some of the most imposing colonnades in
existence.
On the first floor the aisles and showcases are
arranged on a most generous scale for the comfort of the
large crowds of shoppers that continually stream
through the store. The usual crowding and discomfort
of a large establishment is in this way entirely avoided.
The same generous treatment of space for aisles, show-
cases, counters and fixtures pertains throughout the
entire establishment. In no city in the world can be
found such a magnificent arrangement. The "main
aisle" is a most remarkable interior thoroughfare, ex-
people visiting it for the many beautiful displays which
it affords.
The first floor of the main building is devoted to
dress accessories, laces, ribbons, gloves, hosiery, notions,
shoes, men's furnishings, etc., all of which lend them-
selves to a most artistic arrangement. On the second
floor are the dress goods, silks, linens, prints and white
goods, such as are sold by the yard. The third floor
is devoted to muslin underwear, corsets, aprons, infants'
wear and boys' clothing. The fourth floor is one of the
attractive spots of the great establishment. Here are to
be seen extensive displays of women's hats and millin-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
183
ery material, gowns and outer apparel and furs. On
the fifth floor are found rugs and carpets of every for-
eign, oriental and domestic weave ; trunks, toys, baby
carriages, baskets, athletic goods, etc. The sixth floor
is devoted, for the most part, to high class house fur-
nishings, such as lace curtains, upholstery goods, fine
furniture, pictures, metal beds and high-class wall paper.
The tea and grill rooms occupy the entire seventh floor,
there being accommodations for seating 2,000 persons.
The upper floors are devoted to the shipping rooms
and various manufacturing branches carried on in con-
nection with the retail store. On the twelfth floor is a
cold storage vault where during the summer furs belong-
ing to customers, aggregating $3,000,000 in value, are
kept at a temperature of 12 degrees below freezing.
The Marshall Field & Company Annex is another
modern fireproof structure, ten stories high, on the cor-
ner of Washington street and Wabash avenue. The
first floor of the annex is devoted to stationery, silver-
ware, leather goods and toilet accessories. On the
second floor are hall clocks, optical goods, photographic
supplies, fancy needlework and American Indian wares.
The next two floors, third and fourth, are devoted to
pottery, bric-a-brac, cut glass and china. They present
a most beautiful display of art objects. The third floor
in particular, which is known as the "pottery floor,"
contains a most extensive collection of American and
foreign art potteries, metals, Japanese wares, Tiffany
favrile glass and lamps, candelabra, jardinieres and
other art wares. The fourth floor is filled with a mag-
nificent display of cut and Bohemian glass and fine
china.
Few expositions have ever exceeded in quality and
the completeness of the display the wares shown along
the magnificent aisles of this great retail store. Every
convenience is afforded to the public. There are read-
ing, writing and rest rooms for the patrons and visitors.
An information bureau is maintained where general
directions as to railroads, street cars, ocean steamships,
hotels, theaters and other information are given out.
There is a branch postofnce where stamps, money
orders, registered letters and other postofnce business
is transacted. Near this is a telegraph and cable office.
There is a clock which shows the comparative time of
all the great cities of the world, A carefully selected
library containing well selected books, the leading maga-
zines and representative newspapers, directories of the
principal cities, and other reference books, is another
attractive feature. An emergency hospital fitted with
complete surgical outfits is maintained. Telephone
booths are found in all parts of the store for local and
long-distance connection. A staff of guides speaking
various languages is kept in connection with the
information bureau to conduct visitors through the
store, showing to them the many interesting features
which otherwise might be overlooked.
The electrical plant supplies 30,000 incandescent,
200 arc lights and 50 electric elevators. All showcases
are illuminated by concealed bulbs. The store has a
pneumatic tube cash system, an automatic fire sprinkler
system, a refrigerating plant for storage and water cool-
ing purposes, a water filtering plant, a telephone
exchange of 250 lines and a delivery system of 100
wagons and automobiles.
The retail store opens at 8 a. m. and closes at 5 130
p. m. Women employees report 30 minutes later in
the morning and leave 10 minutes before closing time.
An annual vacation of two weeks is allowed every
employee who has been in the service more than a year
and one week after six months. Lunch rooms, music
rooms, gymnasiums, baths and such conveniences are
provided for employees.
In the retail establishment are between 6,000 and
8,000 employees and in the wholesale are 3,000 more.
These figures do not include the hundreds of persons
scattered through all parts of the world in the service
of the firm.
The number of customers who enter the store varies
from day to day from 80,000 to 125,000. During the
holidays it reaches 200,000. The week of the opening
of the new building on State street, in September, 1902,
it averaged 350,000 per day, reaching 450,000 on one
of the days of that week.
Marshall Field, the head of the great mercantile
house that bears his name, has been a prominent figure
in the business interests of Chicago since he was a young
man of twenty-one years. The business principles on
which he started out in the Chicago field of commerce
have been steadfastly adhered to and have characterized
Mr. Field's leadership in the enterprise of which he is
the head and which is now the greatest of its kind in
the world.
Mr. Field was born in Conway, Massachusetts,
August 18, 1835. His father was a well-to-do farmer
and gave his son the advantages of an education in the
grammar schools and later at Conway Academy. But
at an early age Mr. Field's bent was toward business,
neither the life of a farmer nor the glamour of a college
education appealing very strongly to him.
When seventeen years old he started to work in a
country store at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, remaining
there until he came to Chicago in 1856. His first
employment was as a salesman with Cooley, \Vadsworth
& Company. One year later this firm was reorganized
as Cooley, Farwell & Company, and in 1860, when Mr.
Field was but twenty-five years old, he became a junior
partner in the concern. He soon took the lead in
molding the policy of this house and in the reorganiza-
184
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
tion which took place in 1865 he became the senior
member of a new firm known as Field, Palmer & Leiter.
Two years later Mr. Potter Palmer retired to devote his
time and attention to his great real estate interests and
the name of the firm was changed to Field, Leiter &
Company. Mr. Field's masterful grasp of business sys-
tems and detail was never more manifest than during
the trying times following the Civil war. During the
financial storms which swept the country, when many
erstwhile substantial business houses were going down,
and thus the example of Field, Leiter & Company
became the turning point in what was perhaps one of
the greatest revolutions in business methods of the last
century. This system has now reached such a perfec-
tion that the percentage of losses through poor credits
to Marshall Field & Company is only a very small
fraction of i per cent.
The fire of 1871 wiped out both the retail and whole-
sale establishments of the firm. Coining as it did in
the fall of the year when the heaviest stock is carried,
IBSa
SSSS
P^ ;ir^^m - >» •> , , , vifr1^1 ^
^p^mwnHU*Vsu*j i r^n^gi ^
^^y|^i,l Jjjj»f_ _"i:i;i- ill' 3 SiJ; jjj ;.; TTT
"'ff '?•?*• f- ' _' ' '.--.-^i: . rjW :, - i-f LLli
'" " t rtf ff f r "t»'f f f''*V rfl r
'' "I I'-'Il «,M.l.Vi I III •'•'
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY'S RETAIL PREMISES.
Viewed from the corner of Washington street and Wabash avenue, showing new building on the right.
Field, Leiter & Company survived. For some time Mr.
Field had been observing the evils of the credit system
as it then existed in the business world generally, with
its long datings and promissory notes, and deferred pay-
ments, and to him must be given credit for turning back
this tendency to the more sound methods which prevail
to-day. At that time he established his wholesale busi-
ness practically on a cash basis, giving discount for
prompt payment, and paid cash on the same basis for
all his purchases. The indisputable advantages of this
system became more and more apparent to other houses,
the loss aggregated $3,500,000. On this was carried an
insurance of two and one-half million dollars, but little
of this could be realized immediately and much of it was
lost in the insurance failures that quickly followed the
fire. In this crisis the cash system established by Mr.
Field and which had placed the house on a sound
financial basis, saved it from being involved in the
general ruin.
Work on starting in business again was begun the
day after the fire. The old car barns at State and
Twentieth streets were rented by the firm and their
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
185
doors thrown open with but a slight interruption of busi-
ness. Construction on the new building was got under
way immediately and was completed the next year,
the wholesale and the retail houses being located in dif-
ferent parts of the city. The first wholesale building
still stands at Madison and Market streets, and is used
as a warehouse and for factory purposes.
A new retail building was erected on the corner of
State and Washington streets, and was occupied until
1877, when it was burned. Business was temporarily
resumed at the old Exposition building, on the site of
the present Art Institute. The following spring the
store was moved to Wabash avenue, where it occupied
part of the block between Madison and Monroe streets.
In 1879 the business was moved into a new building at
the old site, State and Washington streets. In 1888 the
two five-story buildings on State street, just north of the
original building, were acquired. In 1892-1893 the
establishment was enlarged by the erection of the
"Annex" building on the corner of Washington street
and Wabash avenue, and within a comparatively short
time the three buildings on Wabash avenue, just north
of the annex, were included. In 1901 the two north
buildings on State street, together with the old Central
Music Hall, were torn down, and in their places there
was erected a twelve-story building of steel and granite.
This gave the retail business possession of about seven-
eighths of the block bounded by State, Washington and
Randolph streets and Wabash avenue. In 1905 the
three old buildings on Wabash avenue, north of the
Annex, were torn down to make room for the erection
of a new twelve-story building, similar to the new por-
tion of the State street building.
The great wholesale department of Marshall Field
& Company occupies the block bounded by Adams,
Quincy, Franklin and Fifth avenue, and bears the dis-
tinction of being the "largest wholesale dry goods store
in the world." In addition to this there are seven ware-
houses, the floor space of which is nearly equivalent to
the area of the retail premises. The wholesale house
is of massive granite construction and though it follows
none of the popular models for mercantile structures, it
is considered one of the best specimens of commercial
architecture in the country.
In 1881 Mr. Levi Z. Leiter retired from the firm and
the house became known as Marshall Field & Company,
which name has been unchanged for a quarter of a
century.
Marshall Field has given unostentatiously to many
public institutions in Chicago. The most notable of his
benefactions is his endowment of one million dollars to
the Field Columbian Museum. In 1893, toward the
close of the Columbian Exposition, the movement was
started to preserve the many priceless exhibits of scien-
tific, historical and artistic curios which were being
donated to the city by the exhibitors at the Fair, as a
nucleus for a public museum. The enterprise was still
in a formative state when Mr. Field came forward with
his princely donation as an endowment. In recognition
of this act the new institution was named the Field
Columbian Museum and it has been rapidly taking a
high rank among similar institutions of the world. The
Fine Arts building of the World's Fair was left in
Jackson Park as a temporary home for the museum and
the enterprise organized. Since then Mr. Field has
announced that he was ready to furnish the necessary
funds for the erection of a permanent museum building
as soon as the site could be provided for it in the exten-
sion of Grant Park on the Lake Front. This extension
to the park is being rapidly filled in and the erection of
a magnificent museum is now the question of only a
few years. Mr. Field has also given liberally to the
University of Chicago.
That Mr. Field still cherishes his New England asso-
ciations is manifest in the Memorial library which he
has erected in the village of Conway, Massachusetts,
where he was born, in honor of his parents, John and
Fidelia (Nash) Field. Mr. Field was married to Miss
Nannie Douglass Scott of Ironton, Ohio, January 3,
1863. He has had two children, a son, Marshall Field,
Jr., recently deceased, and a daughter, Mrs. David
Beatty, who makes her home in England. He is a
member of the Presbyterian Church.
Morris Selz, head of the great shoe manufacturing
firm of Selz, Schwab & Co., was born in Germany in
1826. He came to the United States at the age of sev-
enteen, with a total capital of $15, and his first business
undertaking was as a traveling retail merchant, carry-
ing his stock with him.
A little later he was employed as a salesman by a
house in Hartford, Connecticut. From there Mr. Selz
went South, to work in a general store in Georgia ; and
after a little time there he started for the gold fields of
California, by way of Panama.
After several years on the Pacific Coast, Mr. Selz
came to Chicago in 1854, and engaged in various small
undertakings until 1871, when he invested all his capital
and savings in the boot and shoe business. The estab-
lishment was a small one, occupying about half of what
is now one of the firm's lesser factories. It had a daily
capacity of about three hundred pairs. The business
was chiefly the making of boots, and the boots were so
good that they soon gained a great reputation all
through the West ; a reputation which still continues.
In many localities "Selz boots" are still considered the
standard of good quality, although the making of boots
has become a minor feature of the business.
In 1878 the firm became Selz, Schwab & Co., and it
186
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
was incorporated in 1890. The rirm now operates seven
large factories, with a daily capacity of 20,000 pairs;
employs 100 traveling salesmen, 160 office and house
employees, and more than 2,000 operatives. These
factories produce all kinds of footwear, from the finest
dress shoe for men and women to the heaviest mining
or work shoe. The firm has also a rubber mill, making
rubber footwear of all kinds.
The prominent characteristic of Mr. Selz as a busi-
ness man has shown all through his business life, and
is the main idea in his business to-day. "Make nothing
but good goods. Make the name Selz on a shoe the
sign and mark of good quality; whenever anyone puts
MORRIS SELZ.
his confidence and his money in goods bearing that
name let him be sure of getting his full money's worth ;
and a little more if possible."
Upon these principles his business has become the
largest producer of good shoes in the world.
Gage Brothers & Company, Chicago's largest and
foremost wholesale millinery establishment, occupies the
magnificent twelve-story building at 129-131 Michigan
avenue, where it has been located since 1899. The
business is an old one, having been founded in 1856 by
Seth Gage and John N. Gage. The concern has since,
however, passed into the hands of a stock company, of
which Frederick Bode is the president, George Ebeling,
the vice-president, and Geo. H. Hovey, the secretary
and treasurer.
A visit to the establishment as it is to-day reveals
the magnitude and class of the business. The Gage
building is a handsome structure of stone and brick,
facing towards the Lake Front. The building was origi-
nally eight stories, but it was found necessary to add
four more floors in 1902, since which the house has
achieved the reputation of being the largest importers
in America, and having the most complete stock of mil-
linery merchandise ever displayed under one roof. The
GAGE BROTHERS & COMPANY'S BUILDING.
first floor of the establishment is devoted to the recep-
tion room, general offices and the ribbon and yard
goods departments. On the second floor are the street
and outing hats, with special display rooms. The third
floor is given over to untrimmed hats. This floor is
particularly interesting, showing as it does the founda-
tions which later become elaborate creations. On the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
187
fourth floor are exhibited the flowers and feathers. This
floor is a panorama of color. The fifth floor is occupied
by the lace, ornament, millinery, notion and novelty
departments. The pattern hat department, with special
display rooms, is on the sixth floor. On the seventh
floor is the tailored hat department with display rooms,
with its large varied assortment. The factory itself,
the most interesting part of the establishment, covers
the eighth floor. The ninth and tenth are used for
packing, shipping, casing and basketing, the eleventh
is devoted to the reserve stock, while the top floor is
used for miscellaneous purposes. The advertising
department, naturally an important feature of the busi-
ness, and the editorial rooms of The Gage, a quarterly
publication issued by the firm, are on this floor.
A fair notion of the methods and policy which have
brought the house to its present prominent position can
be derived from the pages of The Gage. It is well
edited and finely illustrated, and its make-up, in gen-
eral attractiveness, is superior to that of a
majority of the magazines of the day. It
editorially lays stress upon the fact that Gage
Brothers & Company are the largest import-
ers in the country and as a result offer decided
advantages to the trade. In point of fact
the house sets fashions rather than follows
them. Every day hundreds of new styles and
creations are produced in the Gage factory.
The house employs the best talent in the way
of designers and makers that money can pro-
cure. The two elements to be observed in
millinery manufacture are material and work-
manship; both these phases are developed to
the highest degree of perfection in the Gage
establishment. They give the "Gage hat" a
certain prestige or class that is denied the
inferior article. One word expresses the
Gage business slogan — "quality."
Spaulding & Co. The house of Spauld-
ing & Co., jewelers, was established and
incorporated in 1888. Mr. Henry A. Spauld-
ing, one of the founders, and the first presi-
dent of the company, had for years been
prominently identified with the jewelry house
of Tiffany & Co. in Paris. lie, together
with a party of gentlemen, including Levi Z.
Leiter and Edward Forman, of Chicago;
Edward Holbrookof New York; E. J. Smith,
then of Detroit, and George St. Amant of
Paris, organized and established the present
well-known house. The business was incor-
porated with a paid-in capital of $500,000,
and the following officers chosen : Henry A.
Spaulding, president ; Edward Forman, secre-
tary, and Edward Holbrook, treasurer. These were all
men of business experience and ability, and all thor-
oughly informed in the special departments to which
they gave their attention. Mr. Lloyd Milnor of New
York became treasurer in 1890 and president in 1896,
succeeding Mr. Holbrook, who had been chosen to that
office in 1894. Edward Forman died April 14, 1898,
and Mr. E. J. Smith was made secretary.
Within a short time it was demonstrated that Chi-
cago could support such an establishment as it was
the intention of the promoters to make it, and soon
Spaulding & Co. became recognized as the leading
jewelry house of the West. Located on the southeast
corner of State street and Jackson boulevard, the com-
pany occupies a six-story-and-basement building, two
floors of which, each with a space of 147x40 feet, are
utilized as salesrooms. On the upper floors are the
manufacturing departments, and here all of the diamond
mountings are made, and the special designs in gold and
SPAULDING & CO.'S BUILDING.
188
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
silverware, for which the house has established such a
wide reputation. There is also a very complete sta-
tionery department, and everything connected there-
with, including embossing, is done in the building. The
main floor is devoted to the sale of jewelry, diamonds,
silvenvare, gold and silver mounted leather goods, sta-
tionery and a full line of English hall and mantel clocks.
On. the second floor is to be found the art department,
where everything in the way of statuary, bronzes, rich
cut-glass and costly bric-a-brac are gathered in pic-
turesque display. Throughout the entire building one
is impressed with the taste shown in the furnishings, as
well as the artistic arrangements, making it one of the
best-appointed shops of its kind in the world.
Spaulding & Co. also maintain a branch establish-
ment in Paris at 36 Avenue de 1'Opera, said to be the
most conspicuous American addition to that city in the
way of adornment and trade. The showrooms are
handsomely decorated in white and gold, and the "even-
ing room," draped in black velvet, like the
"gem boudoir" of the Chcago house, is of
special interest to the large number of
visitors who throng the place. The Paris
house is of special value in connection with
the American house, as it enables them to
secure all the newest Parisian novelties as
they make their appearance. And in this
regard it may be said that Chicago, with
its close proximity to the mineral wealth of
the great Northwest, is rapidly becoming
the center of the jewelry trade of the
country.
The E. L. Mansure Company, the lead-
ing upholstery and drapery concern in
Chicago, was established in 1890, with
small quarters at 45 Randolph street. The
advancement in the business was rapid
from the outset; in 1900 they removed to
their present quarters at 74-76-78 Michi-
gan avenue. The company occupies the
entire seven floors and basement, the
largest establishment devoted exclusively
to their line of business in the West. The
building houses the offices, salesrooms,
stockrooms and manufactories of the com-
pany. On the first floor are the offices,
shipping rooms, show and receiving rooms,
etc. The second floor is devoted to the
finishing department, where 150 girls are
employed. Here is done the measuring
and inspecting and various details are
smoothed over and the goods are made
ready for shipping. The matching and
stock departments are on the third floor. Here the
colors are matched and goods selected. The fourth and
fifth floors are devoted to the manufacture of cord, cot-
ton and silk, respectively, requiring dozens of spinning
machines of the latest models. The hand looms are on
the sixth floor; here are employed scores of workmen
skilled in their craft. They do the difficult work, such
as the manufacture of special pieces of draperies, fringe,
etc. The large po\ver looms are on the seventh floor;
these machines turn out the larger pieces of thirty-six
and seventy-two yards. The basement of the building
shelters all the raw materials employed in the manufac-
ture of the firm's finished products. Here are stored
bales on bales of cotton and bags of worsted. On every
floor is a fireproof vault in which is stored the silk, which
comes in large skeins. These are extremely valuable
and extra precautions are taken to guard them against
being spoiled or destroyed. Altogether over 500 peo-
ple are employed in the establishment. The firm's
THE E. L. MANSURE COMPANY'S BUILDING.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
189
machinery and equipment are of the most improved
models. The company has a branch factory in Phila-
delphia, smaller than the local plant, to accommodate
the eastern trade and help out the local people in rush
orders, and turn out special work. They also have a
New York sales office in the Hartford building'.
The company's trade extends over the United
States and Canada. They both make draperies, uphol-
stery, fringes, portieres and similar household equip-
ment of their own designs, and according to special
orders. Carl Weilert, designer of their embroideries, is
the cleverest man in his line in the country. Mansure's
work has always been artistic, though utility has not
been overlooked.
Mr. E. L. Mansure. founder of the business, has
been its president since its establishment. He was asso-
ciated with the drapery business many years previous.
H. F. Walliser is vice-president, P. R. Rudhart is secre-
tary, and John H. Van Arsdale, treasurer.
George M. Clark & Company has been a leading
name in the stove manufacturing business for the past
twenty-four years. The firm was founded by George M.
Clark in 1881, and since then has made rapid progress.
The home offices are at 72 Lake street. The firm has
made a specialty of the manufacture of gasoline and gas
stove ranges and appliances, known as the "Jewel."
The growth of the business necessitated the removal of
the factory in 1897 to Harvey, Illinois, where four hun-
dred hands are employed. In 1902 the business was
merged, with other companies, in the American Stove
GEORGE M. CLARK & COMPANY'S PLANT.
Company, of which Mr. Clark became first vice-presi-
dent and general manager of the George M. Clark Com-
pany division.
George Mark Clark was born at Westminster, Ver-
mont, June 10, 1841, the son of Mark and Sarah (Hall)
Clark. Mr. Clark received his education in the public
school at \Vestminster. He began his business life in a
general merchandise store in Brattleboro, Vermont,
where he lived from 1858 to 1864. The opportunities
of the West tempted him to come to Chicago in 1864.
He accepted a position with Jessup, Kennedy & Com-
pany, which firm afterward became Crerar, Adams &
Company, manufacturers of railway supplies. Mr. Clark
GEORGE M. CLARK.
soon became superintendent of the works. In 1874 the
Adams-Westlake Manufacturing Company was incor-
porated, taking over the manufacturing interest of Cre-
rar, Adams & Company. Mr. Clark was made superin-
tendent of the new corporation, which position he held
until 1885. In 1881 Mr. Clark, with Mr. Adams, started
a new company for manufacturing gasoline and vapor
stoves, incorporating same under the name of Myers
Manufacturing Company. In 1886 the name was
changed to George M. Clark & Company.
Mr. Clark was married to Miss Elizabeth M. Keep
at Oberlin, Ohio, June 18, 1872. They have two chil-
dren, Alice Keep and Robert Keep. Mr. Clark is a
Republican in politics and is a member of the Union
League Club. The family residence is at 460 Dearborn
avenue.
Moses Bensinger, the late president of the Bruns-
wick-Balke-Collender Company, Chicago, New York
and Cincinnati, with branch houses in all the principal
cities of the United States, France, Germany, Canada
and Mexico, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, August
17, 1839, and died October 14, 1904, in his sixty-sixth
year.
Mr. Bensinger commenced his business career as a
jeweler's apprentice and watchmaker, continuing in that
190
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
line until 1869, when he became identified with J. M.
Brunswick, the pioneer manufacturer of billiard tables,
with factories in Cincinnati and Chicago. By persistent
effort and energetic push, he soon mastered the details
MOSES BENSINGER.
of the business and became the practical head of the
business. Owing in a large measure to his foresight and
capability as an organizer, the rival house of Julius
Balke of Cincinnati and St. Louis was induced to join
forces with the J. M. Brunswick Company, under the
corporate name of the J. M. Brunswick &
Balke Company. Mr. Bensinger, one of
the partners in the new firm, assumed the
management of the principal establish-
ment in Chicago. Subsequently through
Air. Bensinger's efforts, the H. W. Col-
lender Company of New York, which was
at that time a formidable competitor, was
absorbed, and the corporate name of the
company changed in 1884 to its pres-
ent title, The Brunswick-Balke-Collender
Company.
The office of the president of the com-
pany was held in succession by J. M.
Brunswick, Julius Balke and H. W. Col-
lender. Upon the death of the latter in
1890, Mr. Bensinger was unanimously
chosen for the important position, which
he held until his death. The company has for many
years been known as the oldest and largest manufac-
turers of billiard and pool tables in the world, but under
Mr. Bensinger's able management the output of the
concern has been increased to something more than
four times that of 1890, when he took direct charge of
the great establishment. He was too enterprising and
energetic to rest content with a business which he con-
sidered susceptible of enlargement and improvement.
He told several of the stockholders who were opposed
to development that new methods, new life and vigor
were essential to continued prosperity, and that without
them the great business that he and the two or three
other living founders of the company had built up would
die out of dry rot, and disintegrate of itself.
He did not by any means have clear sailing, so to
speak. There were numerous rocks and shoals, which
might have brought a less skillful or less determined
mariner to disaster.
Mr. Bensinger was a member of the Chicago Ath-
letic and Standard Clubs, and was of a jovial, good-
natured disposition, to which, in a measure, can prob-
ably be attributed his populartiy. He was never so
happy as when relating anecdotes of the good old days
when he was roughing it as traveling salesman and gen-
eral utility man for the company of which he was the
head for a number of years.
Mr. Bensinger was married to Eleanora, one of the
daughters of J. M. Brunswick, in 1865. Of his three
children, B. E. Bensinger, his only son, has succeeded
his father as president of the company. *
Monarch Book Company. The civilized world
agrees with the philosopher who suggested that we
bless the man who invented books.' It must be con-
ceded, however, that he who publishes and sells books
BRUNSWICK-BALKE-COLLENDER COMPANY'S PLANT
merits equal, if not more, consideration from those who
may be disposed to bestow benedictions on the members
of the book craft.
The business of publishing and selling books has
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
191
made great strides during the past twenty-five years,
and the Monarch Book Company has been a leader in
the advance movement at all times. This concern was
founded in 1882, by two college students at Beloit, Wis-
LINCOLN W. WALTER.
•-
consin, who shortly thereafter finished college and
moved the business to Chicago, where, under able and
farsighted management, it has been developed from the
small beginning to the present large business institu-
tion.
Originally this company sold only such books as it
could buy from other publishers, but its business grew
so rapidly that it shortly engaged in publishing its own
books, and has been for a number of years regarded as
one of the leading publishing houses of the world. It
was a pioneer in publishing juvenile literature and sell-
ing these books through agents during the holiday sea-
son. It is safe to say that millions of its children's books
have been purchased for Christmas presents, which
have been a never-ending source of amusement and
instruction to the little ones. This house has always
been ahead of its competitors in introducing new fea-
tures, with the result that its books have been made
more attractive from year to year. Besides children's
books, its list of publications includes historical, bio-
graphical, religious, educational and works of reference.
The Monarch Book Company has from the beginning
employed the best authors obtainable, and its list of
writers contains the names of the most famous men and
women in literature of the last quarter of a century.
Among these are the Rev. Frank W. Gunsaulus, presi-
dent of Armour Institute of Technology, the Rev. Sam-
uel Fallows, the Rev. J. J. McGovern, Theodore Roose-
velt, William McKinley, Grover Cleveland, Henry
Cabot Lodge, George William Curtis, George F. Hoar,
James Bryce, James Cardinal Gibbons, Seymour Eaton,
Dr. Henry Hopkins, president of Williams College;
David Starr Jordan, president of Leland Stanford Uni-
versity; Hon. Murat Halstead, Edward S. Ellis, Dr.
John Lord, Evelyn H. Walker, Anna A. Gordon, Opie
Read, Press Woodruff, Samuel L. Clemens, the Rev. J.
S. Kirtley and niany other eminent scholars and writers
equally well known.
The Monarch Book Company has always enjoyed
the esteem of the public because of its sterling honesty
and fair dealing, and its strong financial condition is
due to the fact that its publications have invariably been
successful, many of them reaching enormous sales in a
short space of time. Of the Life of McKinley over 750,-
ooo copies were sold in less than four months after his
death. Several hundred thousand Bibles, both family
and teacher's editions, have been sold. Enormous sums
in royalties have been paid to the authors. The W. C.
T. U., through Anna A. Gordon, received over $24,000
royalty from the sale of the Life of Frances E. Willard.
The Monarch Standard Atlas and Illustrated World is
a monumental work and its sale has reached over 300,-
ooo copies. Barnes' Bible Encyclopedia in three vol-
GORDON G. SAPP.
times and the History and Government of the United
States in six volumes have been but recently issued and
are already in great demand.
To properly market its great output, this company
employs hundreds of travelers, who visit every section
1012
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
of the country several times each year, and thousands of
local agents. The management early adopted the policy
of rewarding faithful work by advancement, and the
result is that to-day every department is in charge of
WILLIAM H. RIDER.
thoroughly experienced and competent managers, and
the grand success of the house is due, in no small degree,
to the hearty and efficient co-operation of its army of
workers.
The main office in Cliicago and the branch office in
Philadelphia are veritable hives of industry. The officers
of the Monarch Book Company are : Lincoln W. Wal-
ter, president and treasurer; Gordon G. Sapp. vice-presi-
dent, and William H. Rider, secretary and general man-
ager. These gentlemen also constitute the board of
directors.
The Blakcly Printing Company. In 1898, when
the Stercotypers' union marched out in a body and
the Chicago newspapers were compelled to suspend
publication, at a time when the public thirsted for news
of the Spanish-American War, it remained for an enter-
prising printing firm, The Blakely Printing Company,
to fill in the gap and supply the public with a news-
paper that contained complete and authentic intelli-
gence. It will be remembered that the Chicago papers
did not appear on July 2, at the time when Shatter
was knocking at Santiago's gates and an encounter
between Schley's and Cervera's naval forces was hourly
expected. C. F. Blakely, vice-president of The Blakely
Printing Company, 126-132 Market street, -and W. M.
Knox, president of the Press Club, heard of the
walk-out, and decided to supply the deficiency. The
Blakely Company had all the necessary facilities,
presses, etc. Knox organized his "staff" at three in
the morning, and offices were established at Blakely's.
Telegraphic service was secured ; at eight in the morn-
ing the presses started, and in five minutes the sheet
was on the street. It was a four-page affair, as large as
the Inter-Ocean. It contained not merely the latest
war news, with full details of the American victories in
Cuba, but all the current news, even including the base-
ball scores. The paper's circulation the first day
reached 40,000; on the fourth it sold 1,000,000 copies.
The publication was suspended as soon as the dailies
resumed issue. The projectors pocketed a handsome
profit and a handsomer reputation for enterprise and
push.
The Blakely Printing Company, among the oldest
concerns of its kind in Chicago, was established in 1871
on Green street, near Randolph street, on the West
Side, since which time they have grown to be one of
the largest and most modern equipped printing houses
in the West. They are now located at 126-132 Market
street, occupying a large portion of the front and rear
buildings.
Their plant is in operation both day and night,
employing a large force of the most skilled and intelli-
gent workmen.
The company has a reputation for turning out high-
class work. This volume is a product of their press-
C. F. BLAKELY.
rooms. Their most worthy pieces of work were the
two volumes "The Book of The Fair" and "The Book
of Wealth." The latter was the most expensive modern
book ever published. The edition de luxe was limited :
each volume sold for $2.500. W '. K. Vanderbilt, J. Pier-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
193
pont Morgan, Alva E. Belmont, Caroline Astor, J. J.
Astor and Helen Gould were among the subscribers.
Mrs. David Blakely is president of the company;
C. F. Blakely, vice-president and founder, is its active
head. J. I. Oswald, secretary and manager, has been
associated with the concern for twenty-five years ; Haw-
ley Olmstead, the treasurer, has been with them for
the last fifteen years.
Peter Reinberg, alderman of the Twenty-sixth
ward, whose florist establishment is the largest in the
world, was born on a farm at Rosehill in 1858. His
father had settled on a thirty-two-acre tract there ten
years previous, when only Indian roads stretched
through the forests in the direction of Chicago.
While a boy, Alderman Reinberg attended the rural
schools about his home and herded cattle in the district
now known as Ravenswood. As Chicago grew vege-
table raising became profitable and he was engaged
in this pursuit on his father's farm until 1887, when
he laid the foundation of his great flower industry by
building his first greenhouses. These were very small
affairs in comparison with the ones which he now
puts up a block at a time.
For the first two years, Mr. Reinberg grew lettuce
and cucumbers in his greenhouses. With an addition
of four more greenhouses he then turned his attention
from truck gardening to growing roses and carnations.
He has kept adding to these greenhouses until the
present time when his greenhouse property aggregates
1,200,000 square feet of glass, the largest in the world.
Alderman Reinberg regards the flower habit as con-
tagious and his endeavor has been constantly to edu-
cate the public to an appreciation of his products.
There are times in the vear when the flower market is
dull and when prices are extremely low. Most florists
are then disposed to. gather their blooms and dump
them as waste fertilizing material. This is not so with
Mr. Reinberg, however. His philosophy has been to
PETER REINBERG.
market the flowers regardless of the prices they bring.
The working of this theory is seen in the rapidly increas-
ing use of flowers in Chicago.
"Where flowers are brought into a house because
they are cheap at some particular season," he says,
"these same flowers are likely to find their way into
-
- _ ;
. — i — \_ • — i
SECTIONAL VIEW OF PETER REINBERG'S PLANT.
194
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
the home when they cost a great deal more. There is
no doubt that the per capita consumption of flowers
has increased greatly and that it is still growing."
Ordinarily when a visitor sees the twenty-six acres
of Mr. Reinberg's plant under glass, he wonders about
the cost of the glass. As a matter of fact the glass
represents only about one-seventh of the cost of a
greenhouse establishment. The framework for the
glass, the benches for the plants, the steam piping for
heating and even the ventilating apparatus by which
all of the windows may be opened simultaneously by the
turning of a ratchet wheel, are all expensive items. Mr.
Reinberg's establishment represents an investment of
nearly one million dollars. In the last year the steam
plants at his greenhouses have consumed more than
12,000 tons of coal. The main offices of his green-
houses are at 3468 Robey street.
Until the spring of 1904 Mr. Reinberg was inter-
ested in politics only as a looker-on. He had persist-
ently refused to run for office. The mayor and sheriff
then persuaded him to run for alderman. Although
his ward is normally republican by 1,500, he swept the
ward on the democratic ticket with a plurality of 2,293.
Brock & Rankin. The edition book business of
Brock & Rankin was established in 1892, the firm occu-
A. J. BROCK.
pying quarters at 327 Dearborn street. From its incep-
tion the growth of the business was rapid and a year
later they moved into larger quarters at 87 Plymouth
place. In 1897 they removed to 155 Plymouth place,
the increase in business again necessitating a change.
Finally, in 1902, they erected their present establishment
at 383 La Salle street to accommodate the needs of the
concern. It is a modern fireproof seven-story structure,
of which four floors are devoted exclusively to their
printing and binding business. They have 70,000 square
CHARLES W. RANKIN.
feet of floor space, and their equipment represents the
very latest developments in composition, printing
and binding machinery. They employ 250 people in
their plant.
Their business embraces the composition, printing
and binding of books, catalogues, encyclopedias, his-
tories, fiction, et al. They do a very large amount of
school book work, supplying as they do school books
in over half the states in the Union. Their work is of
the highest quality; this volume is a product of their
binding department.
The two members of the firm are A. J. Brock and
Charles W. Rankin, both of whom are men who have
been identified with Chicago's business growth for
thirty years, during which time they have both been
connected with the printing and book business. They
have contributed their share towards developing the
printing and binding industry in Chicago. Some idea
of its expansion can be gained from the fact that Brock
& Rankin's present plant has a capacity twice that of
all the Chicago plants of thirty years ago combined.
Chicago Edison Company. Climatic and commer-
cial conditions peculiarly favorable to the manifold
applications of electric current for power and lighting
purposes, together with the remarkable growth of the
city within the last decade, have made Chicago one
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
195
of the foremost electrical centers of the country. The
prevailing fogs of the winter season, aggravated by the
"smoke nuisance" and intensified by the lofty office
buildings and narrow streets of the down-town district,
necessitate the use of a tremendous amount of artificial
illumination, and this demand has been greatly aug-
mented during recent years by the almost universal
acceptance of electricity as the most efficient and desir-
able medium for residential, store and sign lighting and
as the most flexible and economical form of applied
power.
that ample provision had been made for future expan-
sion, became heavily overloaded, thus necessitating the
erection of a larger plant. This need was increased by
consolidation with several other companies, the largest
of which was the Chicago Arc Light and Power Com-
pany, operating a high-tension arc lighting plant at
Washington street and the river. Land was accordingly
purchased on the west bank of the Chicago river at
Harrison street, and plans were prepared for what then
seemed an immense plant, equipped with the most
modern apparatus, laid out in accordance with the
SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE CHICAGO EDISON COMPANY'S WORKS.
The development of this important industry in Chi-
cago is largely due to the Chicago Edison Company.
Incorporated in April, 1887, as an outgrowth of the
old Western Edison Electric Light Company, its first
central station, located at 139 Adams street, was placed
in commission in August, 1888, with a total capacity
of about 50,000 lights and a connected business of
16,800 sixteen candlepower equivalent, contracts for
which had been secured during the erection of the
plant.
The growth of business was rapid, and within three
years the Adams Street station, in which it was thought
latest ideas in central station construction and designed
to take care of the anticipated increase in business for
the next decade. The Harrison Street station was com-
pleted in August, 1894, when the entire load of the
Adams Street station was transferred to the new plant,
the station at 139 Adams street being permanently
shut down.
It did not seem practicable to raise all the feeders
which had formerly centered at the Adams Street
plant, and it was therefore decided to connect the
Harrison Street station to 139 Adams street by an
immense trunk line capable of carrying several
196
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
times the amount of current turned out by the
old station, which thereby became the ''center of dis-
tribution." As soon as the trunk line was completed
the building at 139 Adams street was reconstructed
to accommodate the company's general offices and
some of its operating departments.
In the meantime a demand had sprung up in the
southern residence section of the city and to meet this
a station was built on Wabash avenue just south of
Twenty-sixth street and a new system of conductors
reaching nearly to that of the down-town system, was
laid in the streets. In 1894 a corresponding station
was erected for the northern residence district, located
at Clark and Ohio streets, for the purpose of supplying
the territory bounded by the river, North avenue and
the lake.
The original installation at Harrison street was
kept in service from 1894 to 1897, after which, during
another period of rapid expansion from 1897 to 1902
this plant was also developed to the full extent per-
mitted by the property, while the Washington Street
station (acquired from the Chicago Arc Light &
Power Company) was likewise developed to the limit of
its capacity.
In 1897 the advance of the science made it commer-
cially possible to transmit high potential current and
to convert the same current to lower voltages for dis-
tribution over existing low-tension lines, whereupon
the first three-phase transmission line at 2,300 volts
(which one year later was raised to 4.500 volts) was
installed to supply alternating current to rotary con-
verters located in the Twenty-seventh Street station.
These machines and the auxiliary step-down trans-
former received high potential alternating current and
delivered direct current to the low-tension distributing
system.
The larger area which could now be economically
supplied from a single large station gave a great
impetus to sub-station development, and the transmis-
sion voltage was raised to 9,000 volts. The smaller
generating plants were gradually converted into rotary
sub-stations with auxiliary steam reserve, while Harri-
son Street station was equipped with larger units rang-
ing up to 3,500 kilowatts, to take care of the con-
stantly growing demand.
In order to supplement its central station capacity
during the period of maximum load, and as an addi-
tional safeguard against possible interruption of service
the company decided to install a huge storage battery
in the basement of 139 Adams street, the installation
of which was completed in May, 1898. In October,
1899, a second battery was placed in the same building
and two years later a third was installed, thus insur-
ing the utmost possible protection to the company's
customers in the event of trouble at the generating
stations.
The changes occasioned by gradual betterment of
the service have involved amongst other improvements
the substitution of direct current constant potential arc
lighting for the old series arc system and the abolition
of 500 volt power, this having been superseded by 220-
volt service.
At the present time the Chicago Edison Company
operates one large generating station, three subsidiary
steam plants which are operated the greater part of
the year as sub-stations, and eighteen other sub-sta-
tions for direct current distribution to the company's
customers, a number of these sub-stations being
equipped with storage batteries in addition to the con-
verting apparatus, while four of them are storage bat-
tery sub-stations pure and simple, their sole function
being the accumulation of a reserve supply of energy to
supplement the direct supply to the distribution system
during the period of heavy load.
The company has been remarkably successful in
displacing isolated plants with its central station service,
and practically all of the larger stores, clubs, office
buildings and hotels are now supplied with light and
power by the Edison company. The development of
its power business has also increased very rapidly dur-
ing the last few years as the economical possibilities
of small direct-connected motor installations are becom-
ing more widely understood and appreciated. Some
idea of the company's growth may be derived from a
comparison of its present connected business with that
of ten years ago.
Light.
Fiscal year ending 1894 183,400 16 candlepower
Fiscal year ending 1905 775,900 16 candlepower
Power.
Fiscal year ending 1894 3,600 horsepower
Fiscal year ending 1905 55,ooo horsepower
The officers of the company are: Samuel Insull,
president ; Robert T. Lincoln, first vice-president ; Louis
A. Ferguson, second vice-president; William A. Fox,
secretary and treasurer: Robert L. Elliott, assistant
secretary ; John H. Gulick, auditor.
Commonwealth Electric Company. About the
year 1889, in the small towns then existing around
Chicago, which have now become a part of the
city, a number of small companies or individuals
almost simultaneously obtained franchises for the erec-
tion of poles for systems of electrical distribution in
the various sections, and small lighting businesses were
started. Many of these districts overlapped each other,
and all were in contact with competitors, so that
1896 found no less than ten small companies operating
in what had now become the new portion of the city.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
197
Most of these properties were not very profitable to
the holders of their securities, and some were hardly
able to pay their bond interest. Continuous require-
ments for additional investment for extensions, taken
perforce from earnings, and a ruinous competition had
seriously interfered with the success which promised
at the time of their establishment. About this time
certain gentlemen of discriminating judgment in the
matter of lighting fields and of wide experience in the
electric lighting business generally, controlling ample
means of financing any proposition which received their
Power Company, Hyde Park Thomson-Houston Light
Company, Hyde Park Electric Company, Englewood
Electric Company, Mutual Electric Light Company,
West Chicago Light & Power Company, Western
Light & Power Company, Edgewater Light Com-
pany, and Miller Electric Light Company.
The new company found itself the owner of a hetero-
geneous assortment of plants and systems, supplying
various kinds of electric energy over a district compris-
ing about one hundred square miles of territory. As
soon as conditions would permit, a number of the less
SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE COMMONWEALTH ELECTRIC COMPANY'S WORKS.
endorsement, began the movement which, in 1898,
resulted in the purchase of all the companies by a corpo-
ration formed at that time, named the Commonwealth
Electric Company. This company was possessed of a
broad and liberal .franchise for the installation and oper-
ation of underground systems of conductors for the
distribution of electricity in the finer portion of the old
city, and pole line systems in the balance of the
old city and all of the new city. The following plants
were thus consolidated : People's Electric Light &
Motor Power Company, People's Electric Light &
important plants in the southern district were shut
down and their business transferred to several of the
larger plants acquired by the consolidation. A little
later, the several inherited systems of varying press-
ures and frequencies having meanwhile been standard-
ized and inter-connected, these remaining stations were
in turn superseded by a large and modern oo-cycle
polyphase generating plant which the Commonwealth
Company erected at Fifty-sixth and Wallace streets
and which was placed in operation in the latter part
of 1900. The original capacity of the station was 1.400
198
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
kilowatts, but this was increased to 2,400 kilowatts dur-
ing the following year. The output of this station is
distributed by means of a 3-phase, 4-wire, 2,300-4,000-
volt, 6o-cycle overhead system of primary distribution,
with H5-23O-volt single-phase secondary for lighting,
and 22O-volt, 3-phase current for power service, sup-
plying practically all of the southern residential dis-
trict. About a year after the completion of the Fifty-
sixth Street station, the plant of the old Western Light
& Power Company (now known as the Lake View
station) was rearranged for 3-phase, 6o-cycle distribu-
tion. Thereupon ensued an era of sub-station develop-
ment with 25-cycle, g.ooo-volt transmission from the
generating stations. The economic necessity for one
great generating center, however, soon became appar-
ent, and the ultimate relegation of both the Fifty-sixth
Street and Lake View stations to the subordinate posi-
tion of subsidiary steam plants was determined upon
when plans were prepared for the imposing Fisk
Street station. The building of this vast plant, one
section of which was completed and put in operation
in September, 1903, marked the advent of the large ver-
tical steam turbine in central station service, and as far
as Chicago was concerned, the gradual conversion of
6o-cycle generating plants into sub-stations equipped
with frequency-changing apparatus fed by an inter-
connected system of 25-cycle
transmission lines from the Fisk
Street station. This station is
located at the junction of Fisk
street and the south branch of the
Chicago river, about three miles
from the center of the down-town
business distrct. It stands in the
center of a 23-acre plat of land,
and the building, as at present
constructed, consists of the boiler
house, 190 by 165 feet, the turbine
house, 225 by 65 feet, both of steel
construction, and the separate
switch house, 140 by 50 feet.
These structures are designed for
future expansion to three and one-
half times the present capacity.
Of the French style of archi-
tecture, with red pressed brick
walls and cut stone trimmings,
they form a pleasant contrast to
the ordinary river front property.
The present installation con-
sists of three complete units, con-
sisting of coal conveyors, boilers,
Curtis turbo-generators, steam
and electrical auxiliaries and
switching apparatus, having a total capacity of 18,000
kilowatts. A fourth unit is nearly completed, and the
fifth and sixth are under way. The ultimate installa-
tion contemplates fourteen units, with an aggregate
capacity of over 1 00,000 kilowatts.
The growth of the company's business during the
last seven years is shown by the following comparison :
Light. Power.
16 cp. horse
equivalent. power.
Fiscal year ending March 31, 1899. . 130,700 350
Fiscal year ending March 31, 1905. .553,400 11,700
The executive offices of the company are located in
the Edison building, 139 Adams street, and its officers
are: Samuel Instill, president; Robert T. Lincoln, first
vice-president ; Louis A. Ferguson, second vice-presi-
dent; William A. Fox, secretary and treasurer; Robert
L. Elliott, assistant secretary; John H. Gulick, auditor.
The People's Gas Light & Coke Company was
organized under special perpetual charter by act of the
Legislature of Illinois February 15, 1855, amended
February 7, 1865, to carry on the business of furnishing
gas and its bi-products in the city of Chicago and vicin-
ity. August 2, 1897, the Chicago Gas Light & Coke
Company, the Consumers' Gas Company, the Equitable
Gas Light & Fuel Company, the Suburban Gas Com-
PEOPLE'S GAS LIGHT & COKE COMPANY'S BUILDING.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
199
pany, the Lake Gas Company, the Illinois Light, Heat
& Power Company and the Chicago Economic Fuel
Gas Company became merged into the People's Gas
Light & Coke Company, so as to form a single cor-
poration, pursuant to the laws of Illinois. The above-
named companies have ceased to exist, and their capital
stock was canceled at the time the People's company
increased its capital to $25,000,000.
The officers of the People's Gas Light & Coke
Company are : Chairman of the Board, C. K. G. Bil-
lings; President, George O. Knapp; Vice-President,
Anthony N. Brady; Second Vice-President, Walton
Ferguson ; Third Vice-President, C. K. Wooster ; Secre-
tary, L. A. Wiley; Assistant Secretary, H. W. Wolcott;
Second Assistant Secretary and Treasurer, F. A. Crane ;
Treasurer, W. S. McCrea ; Assistant Treasurer, J. S.
Zimmerman. Directors : C. K. G. Billings, A. N.
Brady, Walton Ferguson, A. R. Fowler, George O.
Knapp.
The capital stock of the People's Gas Light & Coke
Company has been increased to $35,000,000, authorized
in shares of the par value of $100 each, of which $32,-
969,100 is outstanding. Bonds to the amount of $34,-
496,000 are outstanding.
The supreme court of Illinois recently sustained the
constitutionality of the act of the General Assembly
passed in 1897, under which this company acquired the
properties of several other companies theretofore
engaged in manufacturing and distributing gas in Chi-
cago. The company was successful in the court below,
and the state appealed to the supreme court, which
in a very full and elaborate opinion held the act of 1897
to be constitutional, and not subject to any of the attacks
made upon it by the state. More recently the United
States Circuit court for the Northern District of Illinois
held that the city of Chicago did not have the legal power
to pass an ordinance to fix the price of gas, and that the
ordinance adopted by the city council in October, 1900,
in force January i, 1901, whereby the city sought to
compel the People's Gas Light & Coke Company to sell
gas for 75 cents per thousand cubic feet, was invalid
and void, and an injunction restraining the enforce-
ment of that ordinance was ordered.
The Ogdcn Gas Company was organized in 1895,
when a construction company was created, called the
Western Republic Construction Company. Its direc-
tors were Thomas Gahan, E. R. Brainard, A. J. Gra-
ham, Roger C. Sullivan, Jacob Franks. Thomas Gahan
was president ; E. R. Brainard, vice-president, and
Roger C. Sullivan, secretary and treasurer. Applica-
tion for a permit under the city ordinances was made
in March, 1896, but construction operations were not
begun until some time thereafter. The plant, having
a capacity of about 1,000,000 feet a clay, was erected
between Hawthorne avenue and the north branch of
the Chicago river, near the tracks of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul Railroad, and twenty-two miles of
mains were laid in the North Side. The present
capacity of the plant is between four and five million
cubic feet per day, and the mileage of mains has been
more than trebled.
The company has an authorized capital of
$10,000,000, of which only $5,000,000 has been issued.
It has $6,000,000 45-year 5 per cent gold bonds out-
standing.
Present directors: John R. Walsh, John M.
Smyth, John A. Spoor, Thomas Gahan, Roger C. Sul-
livan.
Officers : Acting president, secretary and treasurer,
Roger C. Sullivan; general manager, T. V. Pur-
cell.
The Ogden Gas Company is now doing the largest
business it has ever done during the history of the
company. While its street mains have not been ex-
tended to any considerable extent the company has
found all it could possibly do to meet the con-
stantly increasing demands of new consumers along
the line of mains heretofore laid. With all the new
machinery and apparatus installed during the previous
years, it has been able to meet every demand. The
general public has shown beyond all question that it
fully appreciates the fact this company has given them
the go-cent rate, while before its coming no rate lower
than $1.00 had ever been known.
One of the important departments of this company
and one that has been of material help to patrons, is
the supply house at 653 North Clark street, where
every appliance in the way of gas ranges, piping and
fixtures, arc lights, water distillers, etc., which may be
paid for in cash or bought on the easy payment plan,
are available.
The main offices of the company are located at 115
Dearborn street. The Ogden Gas Company, unlike
some private corporations, has always acted with a
lively sense of the rights of the public. "Make the
service better and better" is the constant aim of the
Ogden management. The company spares neither
time nor money in its efforts to make its relations with
the public pleasant and satisfactory'. It requires all its
employees to show the greatest courtesy to the public
under all circumstances and in all matters. Any dis-
courtesy in manner or in speech toward any con-
sumer of the gas company, whether such visitor is
applying for gas or paying a bill is immediately repri-
manded, and repetitions of the offense result in the dis-
missal of the employee.
200
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Chicago Telephone Company. \Yhen one consid-
ers the great area of the city, the tremendous amount
of business transacted daily and the well-known strenu-
ous habits of its citizens, it is not surprising' to record
the fact that Chicago has always been, in the amount of
service required, the leading telephone city in the world.
In Chicago everybody uses the telephone. There is
hardly to be found a man or woman who cannot give
CHICAGO TELEPHONE COMPANY'S BUILDING.
their telephone address, representing the telephone
either in their own homes or places of employment or
the nearest telephone at which they can be reached.
The telephone directory is the Blue Book of the city as
far as business firms or residences are concerned. By
means of nearly 100,000 telephones now installed in the
city exchange, and 40,000 in surrounding suburban dis-
tricts, the Chicago Telephone Company is affording
service to the city which, in volume, has probably never
been reached in any other part of the world.
In 1893, when the number of telephones in Chicago
reached 10,000, the Chicago telephone exchange was
the largest in the world, and by many it was thought
that the limit had been about reached. Within a few
years from that time, however, the ever-increasing num-
ber of telephone users began to appreciate the fact that
what they wanted was not the telephone, but the tele-
phone service or message either within the limits of a
city exchange or its suburbs or the surrounding country.
In New York, perhaps, there was a first appreciation of
this fact, and measured service was there introduced
which provided that the subscribers should pay for the
service in accordance with the number of messages sent.
At about the same time operating plans and apparatus
were introduced making it possible for the user of a
telephone to pay for his service at the time it was ren-
dered, making the measured service a "pay as you go"
proposition. The exchange in New York under these
plans proceeded to grow at a phenomenal rate.
In the Chicago exchange provision was made as
rapidly as possible for the offering of service on both of
these plans, and immediately the exchange began a phe-
nomenal growth, which is still under way, so that within
the city exchange at the present time nearly 100,000
telephones are operated, a very large majority being on
the measured service plan, and generally on what is
called the "nickel-in-the-slot" basis. There were nat-
urally a number of difficulties to be surmounted in pro-
viding apparatus which would handle nickel service, but
improvements in the machinery have kept pace with the
demand for the introduction of the service, and the
nickel-in-the-slot telephone is extending its field of use-
fulness every day.
It is an attractive proposition to anyone that tele-
phone service may be paid for at the time it is rendered,
and that the payment is made by the person getting the
service, so that from the smallest private residence,
where, at a guaranty of five cents a day for service, it is
possible to have the telephone available at all hours,
up to busy offices and warehouses where it is desired
that the use of the telephone shall be restricted to the
necessary business of a company or firm, the pay-as-you-
go instrument meets with hearty appreciation.
There are some things about the Chicago exchange
which are not generally understood. Originally .its
limits reached only to Fullerton avenue on the North
side and Thirty-ninth street on the South side. Its area
has widened as the density of population has warranted
construction of telephone lines in sufficient number.
Now the company has extended the northern limits to
reach the boundaries of Rogers Park exchange district.
On the south the limits have been gradually extended
year by year by the company until they now reach Sev-
enty-ninth street, while the western boundary is about
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
201
along the line of Fortieth avenue. This territory, nearly
eighteen miles long and more than five miles wide, is
greater than that embraced in any other one telephone
exchange, and it requires a tremendous plant in the way
of exchange buildings and offices filled with switching
apparatus, as well as of underground cables and wires,
to furnish such a widespread service. Within the limits
of this Chicago exchange there is communication at
standard rates without any added toll.
It has been supposed by many that the field of
operations of the Chicago Telephone Company was the
city of Chicago alone. This is by no means the case.
The company operates in the territory embraced in a
radius of about fifty miles from Chicago, having 114
separate exchanges and seventy-six toll stations in this
territory, such exchanges as Elgin, Joliet, Aurora, Oak
Park, Evanston, etc., being the leading ones in the point
of size. In ten of these cities the company has erected
office buildings for its own use, and its plants of wires
and cables is co-extensive with their limits. In addi-
tion, the company has more than 12,000 miles of toll
lines, extending in a network from Chicago to each of
these cities and towns, and from one to the other, mak-
ing it possible to communicate by telephone at a cost
ranging from 10 cents upward, according to distance.
Running into nearly all of these suburban and
country exchanges are lines reaching not only the sur-
rounding villages and towns within the various coun-
ties and townships, but also the residences of farmers,
who to the number of several thousands are already fur-
nished with telephone connection by the company and
may speak from their houses not only to the nearest
town or county seat, but with Chicago and the sur-
rounding country. In some parts of the country efforts
have been made to develop this farmers' line service by
a cheap class of construction, stringing an indefinite
number of subscribers on one wire, as many as thirty
in some cases, the result being generally a demoralized
service. The Chicago Telephone Company has endeav-
ored to avoid this by providing a high class of con-
struction and special plans of operating, by means of
which as many as eight farmers are accommodated on
one circuit with a minimum of interference. The natural
result of such an extended and available service has been
to increase very greatly the demand for it, and this has
been such that it is almost impossible to keep pace with
it except by a tremendous expenditure of capital and
greatest effort on the part of the staff of the company.
The increase in the number of telephones during the
last three years has been at the rate of 20,000 a year, and
at one time was at such a rate that the company was
obliged to cease all advertising and canvassing and
accept such orders as were proffered subject to inevitable
delay occasioned by their great number.
It is difficult to appreciate the extended scope of the
service without a close inquiry into its details. Interest-
ing features, however, are found in the fact that tele-
phones are now installed in more than 25,000 private
residences in Chicago; that in all of the leading
hotels telephones are .installed in every room, and
equipped for city exchange or toll-line service through
a private switchboard in the hotel office; that in more
than 1,000 places of business, including nearly every
newspaper, railway, express company, packing-house
and like industry, private branch exchanges are located,
a special operator being employed to handle telephone
calls and trunk lines being extended to the nearest tele-
phone exchange. In such establishments the telephone
on the desk of the head of a department is just as impor-
tant as the pen.
Every large department store in the city has a pri-
vate exchange of this character, and nickel telephones
enclosed in soundproof booths are found on every floor
and in every department for the convenience of cus-
tomers. One of the largest retail establishments in the
city has more than 400 telephones of this kind and
employs twelve operators constantly to attend to the
service. In a number of the leading restaurants it is so
provided that a telephone may be brought to any table,
and conversation carried on directly from it. It is almost
impossible to appreciate what a tremendous saving of
time is accomplished by the service of such a telephone
exchange. At a cost of 5 cents one may reach any
one of 100,000 telephones, within an area of nearly
100 square miles, and one may provide himself with a
telephone to meet the requirements of his own service
on any one of the various plans necessary for such
requirements, and at a cost for some classes of service as
low as 5 cents a day.
The Illinois Tunnel Company owns and operates the
largest tunnel system in the world. At present it
stretches under the streets of Chicago for a distance of
forty miles. All this has been built without accident
or injury to the immense skyscrapers which tower
about it in the business section of the city. When the
system is completed its bores will reach on each of the
three sides of the city to a distance of seven miles from
the loop center.
New York, Boston, London and other cities have
tunnels that are more widely known than those of the
Illinois Tunnel Company. The subways of other cities
are for passengers, while the tunnels of Chicago are
for freight. Chicago keeps the streets for its citizens
and handles its freight and heavy traffic underground.
It is the pioneer city to build tunnels for this purpose
and the construction work already completed is the
marvel of the engineering world.
The Illinois Tunnel Company's tunnels are com-
202
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
pleted forty feet under .the surface of every street in this
territory. Every building located on these streets can
transfer freight through the tunnels to any part of the
United States.
Chicago's business center has been confined to a
small area of territory extending i^ miles north and
south and one mile west, with Lake Michigan on the
east and the river on the north. The railways have
located their freight yards south, north and west so
close to this center that the commercial interests have
been confined to this territory. The enormous growth
not in the tunnels. This not only prevents any conges-
tion in the tunnels, but furnishes a capacity many times
the present requirements.
The transfer of coal to the tunnel company's cars
is through gravity yards. The coal bins in the yards
are between the track level and the roof of the tunnel.
When delivered to the buildings it is dumped into a
hopper, and by means of coal conveyors is taken up
into the basement and dumped into other bins. Ashes
are passed down through chutes into the tunnel cars.
Since the completion of the tunnel system all new
SECTIONAL VIEW OF THE ILLINOIS TUNNEL COMPANY'S TUNNELS.
of the city's business has so congested the streets within
this area that the cost of cartage of freight to business
houses has increased over 100 per cent in the past few
years. Five years ago a team could handle five and six
loads per day; to-day it is impossible for the same teams
to exceed two or three loads per day.
The first necessity in the Illinois Tunnel Company's
transportation system was to establish a car which
could be elevated into the basement of any building,
without cost of alteration to the premises. All cars are
loaded and unloaded in the warehouse basements and
buildings being constructed in the business section of
the city have the excavation and building material trans-
ported through the tunnels. The public enjoys the bene-
fit of having this offensive traffic taken from the streets.
The Illinois Tunnel Company is owned by the inter-
ests which control the railroads. The tunnels not only
benefit the community by removing traffic congestion
from the streets, but also they enable all the railroads
to receive and deliver freight twenty-four hours each
day. By teams they were able to transfer freight only
8 or 10 hours per day even when the weather permitted.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
203
This tunnel system is now only in its infancy ; no one
can foretell the purposes and uses to which it will be put
in the future. It may solve the smoke nuisance. By
locating a central steam plant it could supply steam for
heating and power to all of the buildings in the business
district at less cost than the smoky individual plants
now operated by coal can be maintained. Refrigeration
can be furnished from the same central power plant, fur-
nishing cold storage to buildings, hotels, restaurants
and factories.
Nothing has ever been developed in the history of
any city which will prove such beneficial results to the
whole community as these tunnels. They will work
out the method of better paved and cleaner streets ; will
prevent loss of that business to the city which increased
cost of handling, owing to congestion of its streets, has
gradually diverted to other cities, and will permit the
use of the streets to every citizen with less risk to life
or limb.
The company proposes to extend its system of tun-
nels to cover the residence district for the delivery of
packages, etc. No public improvement of this or any
other age ever equaled this undertaking, and Chicago
prides itself with being the pioneer city of the world in
adopting an improvement which means : The streets
for the people — subways for freight.
George W. Jackson, as consulting and contracting
engineer, has managed the expenditure of over $25,-
000,000 for construction work in twenty-five years.
He is credited with being the first engineer in this
country to complete an all concrete underground con-
struction, and with being the first engineer to design
and install a successful pneumatic tube system for the
transmission of packages underground, having designed
and constructed over fifteen miles of pneumatic tubes
for the City and Associated Press Associations of
Chicago.
Under Mr. Jackson's management was con-
structed a fourteen-foot, all concrete, storm-water
sewer system for Reading, Pennsylvania. He built the
Strickler tunnel, one and a quarter miles in length,
through the Pike's Peak Range, at an elevation of
12,700 feet above sea level, and has constructed subways
at Indianapolis. Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, and Musca-
tine, Iowa. He built the bridges at North Halsted,
Randolph, Loomis, Eighteenth, Harrison and Twenty-
second streets for the city and sanitary district of Chi-
cago ; constructed tiie Wentworth avenue and Belmont
avenue drainage systems, the Sixty-seventh street low-
level drainage system and miles of other drainage sys-
tems for Chicago and St. Paul ; laid the entire conduit
system in the downtown district for the Chicago Tele-
phone, Western Union and Postal Telegraph and Chi-
cago Underground Sectional Conduit companies, and
has done a large part of the construction work for the
cable systems of the traction companies, and for the
lighting systems of the South and West Park boards.
Mr. Jackson has designed and patented what is
known as the first practical steel sheeting, as well as the
steel forms and ribs for forming concrete, and what is
known as the Jackson column bar for driving rock
tunnels. In 1903 he was appointed by Mayor Harrison
hydraulic engineer for the High Pressure Water Com-
mission, and designed for it a high-pressure system.
He was chosen by the city council's local transportation
committee as consulting engineer, to advise it as to the
GEORGE W. JACKSON.
construction of traction subways. He has also devised
for the city a new sanitary sewer system.
During the past five years he has been chief engineer
and general manager of the Illinois Telephone & Tele-
graph and the Illinois Tunnel companies, for which he
has engineered and managed the construction of thirty-
three miles of tunnels, which have been constructed in
every street within the district bounded by Fifteenth,
Halsted and Illinois streets and Lake Michigan. He
has equipped the system with rails, trolleys, drainage
facilities and a telephone system.
Mr. Jackson is president of the Jackson & Corbett
Bridge & Steel Works ; the Jackson & Corbett Company
and the Interlocking Steel Sheeting Company, and is
advising engineer for the Pike's Peak Hydro-Electric
Company.
Mr. Jackson was born in Chicago, July 21, 1861,
and is of English-Irish descent. He received his
education in the public and technical schools, and in
204
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
the school of experience. He graduated from the tech-
nical schools in 1878, and entered upon a construction
and engineering1 business in 1880, in which he has been
engaged continuously ever since.
His family consists of his wife, Rose Theresa Jackson,
his daughter. Rose Casey Jackson, aged eighteen years,
and his son, Thomas Casey Jackson, aged twenty years.
Mr. Jackson has lived for twenty years in the heart of
the business district, his residence being a handsomely
appointed flat on the top floor of the building at 177
Monroe street.
W. S. Bogle, president of the Crescent Coal & Min-
ing Company, was born in Dover, New Hampshire, of
Scotch parentage. He came to Chicago with his parents
in 1861, his -father, Daniel Bogle, being one of the noted
W. S. BOGLE.
engraver experts. He was awarded the gold medal for
excellence in engraving at the Crystal Palace, New
York, the first World's fair held in this country.
Mr. Bogle graduated from the Chicago High School
in 1868, and immediately afterwards went into the coal
business with his father, and has been in it ever since.
He organized the Crescent Coal & Mining Company in
1891, previous to which time he had been western sales
agent for the Delaware & Hudson Company for a num-
ber of years. From a comparatively small beginning
the Crescent Company has grown to be one of the
largest firms in point of tonnage in the Chicago market.
Mr. Bogle has also owned and developed a great many
bituminous coal mines, independent of the Crescent
Company, in West Virginia, Ohio and Indiana, his prin-
cipal operations having been in Indiana. He founded
the W. S. Bogle Coal & Mining Company, of which he
was president ; the Torrey Coal & Mining Company, of
which he was also president, and the Indiana Fuel Com-
pany in which he held a half interest, and was vice-pres-
ident of the Baltimore & Ohio Coal Company of Colum-
bus, Ohio. He recently disposed of all his mining
interests to the different syndicates which had been
absorbing the Indiana mining properties. At the pres-
ent time, in addition to being president of the Crescent
Coal & Mining Company, he is also president of the
Consolidated Anthracite Coal Company of Spadra,
Arkansas, which controls practically all of the territory
in which this coal is found. This coal is equivalent in
all respects to the Pennsylvania anthracite, and the
demand for it is so great that the company has difficulty
in developing fast enough to supply it.
Mr. Bogle is a Democrat, and for many years was
active in party management of Cook County. He
retired from politics in 1892, after having served as
chairman of the Central committee of the party for sev-
eral years. For a number of years he was vice-president
of the Iroquois Club, and served one term as president,
refusing on the expiration of his term to accept of the
second nomination. He is also a member of the Union
League Club, Chicago Yacht Club, Germania Man-
nerchor of Chicago and the Manhattan Club of New
York.
In 1872 he was married to Miss Delia Stearns of
Chicago. He has three children, two daughters and
one son. The son, Walter S. Bogle, Jr., was educated
at the Cornell University as mechanical and mining
engineer, and is now general manager of the Consoli-
dated Anthracite Coal Company of Spadra, Arkansas,
having full charge of the operation of the mines.
Thomas J. O'Gara started in the coal business
eight years ago with practically no capital. To-day he
controls mining and coal interests worth $6,000,000.
Mr. O'Gara started in the business in 1897 as a jobber
with little capital and no prospect of ever becoming
a mine owner. In 1905, he owned and operated twenty-
seven mines, organized a $6,000,000 coal corporation
of which he is the president and principal owner, and
is now recognized as one of the leading coal men of
the country.
Mr. O'Gara was born in Ireland about forty years
ago, and came to Chicago in 1886. For several years
he worked as a salesman in the coal business, but found
time to study law, and after taking a course in the Chi-
cago College of Law, was admitted to the bar in 1893.
In 1897 Mr. O'Gara established the copartnership of
O'Gara, King & Co., the members of the firm being
T. J. O'Gara, John King and William Lorimer. In
1899 Mr. O'Gara bought out his partners and has since
been alone in the business. Since that time Mr. O'Gara
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
205
has acquired extensive mining properties in West Vir-
ginia, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana, and built up a large
business.
O'Gara, King & Company, or rather T. J. O'Gara,
own and control the following coal mining corporations :
Green Ridge Mining Company of Green Ridge, Illi-
nois; Jefferson Mining Company of Springfield, Illinois;
Summit Coal & Mining Company of Summit, Indiana ;
Vivian Coal Mining Company of Jasonville, Indiana;
Lincoln Coal Mining Company of Clinton, Indi-
ana; Staunton Mining Company of Staunton, Indiana;
O'Gara Coal Mining Company of Wolf Summit, West
Virginia; Harrisburg-Big Muddy Mining Company of
Harrisburg, Illinois ; Chicago-Springfield Coal Company
of Springfield, Illinois; Imperial Mining Company of
Cambridge, Ohio ; United States Coal Company of Chi-
cago, Illinois.
These companies comprise twelve modern mining
plants, and produce 3,000,000 tons of coal annually.
Mr. O'Gara has, also, obtained control of all the mines
in Saline County, Illinois, fifteen in number, and over
75,000 acres of coal lands adjoining, giving him control
of the best bituminous coal fieVl west of Pittsbursr.
THOMAS J. O'GARA.
Mr. O'Gara's latest and greatest exploit in the coal
business is the organization of the O'Gara Coal Com-
pany, with a capital stock of $6,000,000. He controls
this large corporation and is its president and general
manager. The control of the O'Gara Coal Company,
with the mines already owned by Mr. O'Gara, gives
him twenty-seven mines, all in operation, and having a
capacity of 7,000,000 tons a year. His latest enterprise
places Mr. O'Gara in the ranks of the leading coal mine
owners and operators in the Nation.
James McDonald was born at Lincoln, England, July
21, 1865, the son of John and Elizabeth (Halliday)
McDonald. Mr. McDonald was educated at the Lin-
JAMES MCDONALD.
coin Grammar School, the alma mater of so many
famous Englishmen. His scholastic career culminated
in 1881 when he won the degree of A. A. (Associate of
Arts) from the ancient University of Oxford.
In 1882 Mr. McDonald determined to follow Berke-
ley's famous admonition and "come west." Attracted
by the opportunities for young men in Chicago he
came in the fall of that year. In 1883 he identified
himself with the Chicago, Wilmington & Vermillion
Coal Company as general accountant. Later he took
charge of the company's jobbing department, and for
several years acted as general sales agent. In April,
1903, Mr. McDonald organized the Interstate Coal &
Coke Company of Illinois, with large interests in
Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio coal fields. Associated with
Mr. McDonald is William Job, a large Ohio and
Indiana operator. Mr. McDonald is also secretary and
general manager of the Mammoth Vein Coal Company
in Sullivan County, Indiana, of which company Mr.
Job is president. Mr. McDonald is also secretary of
Job's Ohio Hocking Coal Company, with large mines
in Perry County, Ohio. Mr. McDonald was natural-
ized in 1886, and has voted the Republican ticket ever
since. He takes a great interest in the politics of his
206
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
adopted country, but has never seen fit to identify him-
self with any political organization.
Mr. McDonald was married in 1891 to Miss Flor-
ence R. Lemmon and has a son and a daughter, Paul
A., and Bessie Mae McDonald. The son Paul is at
present attending the Lake Forest Academy and as he
has already evinced a decided taste for business is ex-
pected to follow in the father's footsteps. Mr. McDon-
ald attributes his success in business to the fact that all
through his career he has insisted upon the faithful per-
formance of all contracts. In coal circles Mr.' Mc-
Donald's word is as good as his bond. Hence his envi-
able reputation among the representative men of the
Middle West.
Robert R. Hammond, president of the Dering
Coal Company of Chicago, and formerly second vice-
president and general manager of the Chicago &
ROBERT R. HAMMOND.
Eastern Illinois Railroad Co., is a native of Iowa. He
was born at Ottumwa, February 14, 1857. At nineteen
he entered the service of the Burlington Railroad Co. as
agent and operator. He left the Burlington in 1881,
going to Kansas City for the Kansas City, Fort Scott &
Memphis (now a part of the Frisco system). His pro-
motion in the road's service was rapid. In turn he
became train dispatcher, chief train dispatcher, division
superintendent and general superintendent, holding the
latter post after the road had been merged with
the Frisco. He was appointed superintendent of the
maintenance for the Frisco in August, 1901, and the
following year he joined the "Katy" (Missouri, Kansas
& Texas-) forces, becoming assistant general manager.
As general manager of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois
he came to Chicago in January, 1903. At this time the
road was a part of the Frisco system, and in April, 1904,
he was transferred to St. Louis, having been elected
second vice-president of the entire system, with 5,000
miles of trackage under his jurisdiction. He returned to
• Chicago last fall to become second vice-president and
general manager of all the Frisco lines east of the
Mississippi, which embraced the management of the
Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Evansville & Terre
Haute and the Evansville & Indianapolis roads.
His official duties put him in close contact with
the coal trade, as the volume of coal shipments over
these lines is enormous. Mr. Hammond developed
the system to a high degree of efficiency, which proved
beneficial both to the Frisco system and the immense
coal interests of the West. In March, 1905, he severed
all connection with the railway service and became
president of the Dering Coal Company, the largest
coal concern west of Pittsburg. The Dering Com-
pany, which has its offices in the Old Colony building,
is a consolidation of six different concerns, of which
the Crescent Coal & Mining Company and the West-
ville Coal Company were the largest. The company
operates fifteen properties in Sullivan, Vigo and Ver-
milion counties, Indiana, and Vermilion and Franklin
counties, Illinois. Among these are some of the most
valuable coal properties in the West. The company
conducts both a wholesale and retail business, the latter
having been instituted but recently. J. K. Dering, for-
merly president of the J. K. Dering Coal Company,
now a part of the big concern, is vice-president.
Mr. Hammond, in addition to his affiliation with
the principal coal trade organizations, belongs to some
of the leading clubs here.
Col. A. L. Sweet is president of the Chicago, Wil-
mington & Vermillion Coal Company, one of the oldest
and largest concerns in the state. Few men have con-
tributed more towards the development of the immense
coal interests of the West. Colonel Sweet is a native of
Illinois. He was born in Jacksonville, August 21, 1831.
His father, the Rev. Joel Sweet, was one of the pioneers
of the Baptist clergy in the state. Mr. Sweet's first
business experience was in the commission line, in St.
Louis, but he shortly afterwards became an agent for
the Rock Island Railroad at La Salle, Illinois.
His first association with the coal trade dates from
1865, when he secured a situation with E. D. Taylor &
Son of Chicago, in the capacity of general salesman.
Three years later he accepted a similar position with the
Chicago & Wilmington Company. His promotion in
their employ was rapid, and he was made superintend-
ent of the company in 1870. When, in 1872, the Chi-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
20?
cago & Wilmington and the Vermillion companies were
consolidated, Col. Sweet was elected secretary and
general manager of the new company, known to this
day as the Chicago, Wilmington & Vermillion Coal
Company. In 1890 he was elected president, in which
capacity he has served ever since. Maj. T. A. Lemmon
is the company's secretary and treasurer.
The Chicago, Wilmington & Vermillion Coal Com-
pany, whose general offices are in the Old Colony build-
ing, ranks as one of the largest coal producers in the
state, the output of its properties at Thayer, South
Wilmington and Streator for 1904 being 1,250,000 tons.
The mine at Thayer, Sangamon County, which yields
more than its share of the total output, is a wonder. The
development of this property has been remarkably
rapid. The first shaft was sunk in June, 1900, and by
the following January the mine produced 250 tons a
COL. A. L. SWEET.
day. By December, 1901, the mine's daily capacity was
2,000 tons, which average it has since maintained. The
plant is one of the newest and best equipped in the
state.
T. A. Lemmon, secretary of the Chicago, Wilming-
ton & Vermillion Coal Company and one of the leading
coal men of the West, was born at New Albany, Indiana,
April 1 6, 1841. His parents were Michael and Martha
(Griffin) Lemmon, his mother being a grandniece of
Thomas Jefferson. Young Lemmon obtained his
schooling in his native town. Shortly after graduating,
in 1861, he enlisted in the Fifth Ohio Cavalry, fighting
at Shiloh and several other large battles. Throughout
the war he was attached to the Fifteenth Army Corps of
the Army of the Tennessee. After being mustered out,
in 1866, he came to Chicago, entering the employ of
E. D. Taylor & Son, coal dealers on Market street.
Col. A. L. Sweet, president of the Chicago, Wilmington
T. A. LEMMON.
& Vermillion, secured his start in the coal business with
the same people. In 1868 Mr. Lemmon established a
business of his own, but the fire of 1871 wiped it
out. After serving in several capacities he became sec-
retary and treasurer of the Chicago & Wilmington Coal
Company, in 1887.
Mr. Lemmon married Miss Sara C. Berry of New
Albany, Indiana, in 1865. He has a family of two sons
and a daughter, Mrs. James McDonald of this city.
Both sons are engaged in the coal business.
The La Salle County Carbon Coal Company was
organized in 1883 and is one of the most prominent
operative concerns in the La Salle County field. Its
large properties in Illinois produce a high grade of fuel
coal, which is shipped to Chicago and other distributing
points in immense quantities. The offices of the com-
pany are in the Old Colony building.
Franklin O. Wyatt, manager and secretary of the
La Salle County Carbon Coal Company, is one of the
best known coal operators in the West. He was born
at Norwich, Vermont, June 12, 1838, the son of Joseph
P. and Abigail Wyatt. He was educated in the public
schools and Asbury University, now DePauw Uni-
versity, at Greencastle, Indiana. He began his business
life as a civil engineer and was engaged in railway con-
208
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
struction and in the operation of railways from 1867 to
1885. Toward the close of this period he became inter-
ested in a number of coal properties, and in 1884 be-
came manager of the La Salle company.
He was married at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, in 1872,
to Miss Marian L. Purely. They have three daughters,
Edith F., Faith and Phyllis M. The family residence is
at 1761 Sheridan road.
The Standard Washed Coal Company, in the short
time since it was organized, April i, 1901, has grown
to be one of the largest of the many fuel companies
doing business in Chicago. Though the corporation is
comparatively new to the Chicago field, its executive
W. T. DELIHANT.
officers have had many years' experience in the local
trade.
The concern was organized and incorporated by
W. T. Delihant, now its president, and M. C. O'Donnell,
its present secretary. Shortly after incorporation the
Clear Lake and Spaulding mines in the Springfield dis-
trict were acquired by the company. Later the Car-
tersville mine in the district of that name also came under
the same control. The entire output of the company
now comes from these three properties.
The product of these mines is such that it is said to
improve to a large degree by the process of washing.
The popularity of the product is proven by the fact that
the company ranks second among Chicago's coal con-
cerns in wagon business, handling about 750,000 tons
per year.
The Standard Washed Coal Company specializes in
supplying coal in car-load lots, and for steam purposes,
such as for office buildings. Its car business is exten-
sive in Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. In Chi-
cago it has coal yards at the following places : On the
Illinois Central railroad at South Water street, Twenty-
sixth street, and Fifty-first street ; on the Chicago, Bur-
lington & Quincy railroad at Twenty-first and Jefferson
streets, and on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
railroad at Roscoe street and Racine avenue.
The company was incorporated in 1901, with a
capital stock of $30,000, and an office consisting of
one room in the Fisher building. The following year
the stock was increased to $70,000, and the concern
moved to the Plymouth building. Last year it took
possession of the entire third floor of the Plymouth
building, and this spring increased its capital stock to
$200,000.
Closely associated with the Standard Washed Coal
Company is the Commercial Coal & Coke Company.
It was organized in April of 1904, with a capital stock
of $30,000. The latter company confines itself exclu-
sively to the retail trade, and does not encroach on the
field of the older corporation. The Commercial com-
pany secures its coal from the Chicago & Eastern
Illinois Railroad, and has its yards at Twenty-second and
Jefferson streets.
The officers of the two companies at present are :
W. T. Delihant, president; T. J. Hudson, Jr., vice-pres-
dent; M. C. O'Donnell, secretary, and Albert Tebo,
treasurer. E. W. McCullough is mine manager for the
Standard Washed Coal Company, and George W. Ford
occupies a similar position for the Commercial Coal &
Coke Company.
President Delihant started in the coal business in
1 88 1, with W. P. Rend & Company. Later he was
with the Peabody Coal Company for ten years, the
Edwin F. Daniels Company for five years, the F. G.
Hartwell Company, and many other .larger coal com-
panies in Chicago. He was born in Missouri, March i,
1862, and came to Chicago in 1864. He is a member
of the Illinois Athletic Club and the Royal Arcanum.
Vice-President Hudson is a son of T. J. Hudson, Sr.,
the general traffic manager of the Illinois Central Rail-
road. He entered the coal business in 1894 with the
Independent Fuel Company, and in the fall of 1903
came to the Standard Washed Coal Company.
Secretary O'Donnell and Treasurer Tebo have both
been in the coal business for the better part of the past
twenty years. They have worked with the same firms
as Mr. Delihant, and have been with the Standard
Washed Coal Company since its organization. Mr.
McCullough has spent his life in the Illinois mining
fields and is considered one of the best mining managers
in the country.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
209
Wells Brothers Company. The building and con-
tracting firm of Wells Brothers Company had its incep-
tion, strictly speaking, directly following the Chicago
fire in 1871. Warren A. Wells, founder of the busi-
ness, had come here from St. Paul to engage in some
manufacturing enterprise. The fire occurred shortly
afterwards and Mr. Wells, seeing his opportunity, estab-
lished a contracting and mason business with his eldest
son, Addison E. From the outset the concern kept
abreast of the latest methods in construction, to which
fact they attribute their success.
The bi-partnership was retained until 1885, when
Fred A. Wells was admitted into the business ; the cap-
tion of the firm these years was W. A. & A. E. Wells.
The elder Mr. Wells died in October, 1900, and two
years later the business was incorporated under the
style of Wells Brothers Company. The present officers
of the corporation are Addison E. Wells, president ;
Fred A. Wells, vice-president and treasurer ; and W. G.
Luce, secretary.
Among the buildings erected by Wells Brothers
Company and W. A. & A. E. Wells are the Stude-
baker, Fine Arts, Studebaker Repository, Cable build-
ing, McClure building, Republic and Chicago Savings
ADDISON E. WELLS.
Bank buildings, all "in Chicago ; the Mississippi State
Capitol at Jackson, Mississippi ; Stock Exchange at
Philadelphia, and Belvidere Hotel, Baltimore. One
of their earliest jobs was the erection of the old Inter-
State and Industrial Exposition building on the Lake
Front, in 1872. The company have the following build-
ings under way : Baltimore & Ohio office building at
14
Baltimore, the $1,000,000 Onondagua court house at
Syracuse, New York, the new Mandel building, Chi-
cago, and others.
Addison E. Wells, president, is a native of Janes-
ville, Wisconsin, where he was born February 4, 1856.
After completing his high school education he entered
business with his father. Fred A. Wells was born
FRED A. WELLS.
July 26, 1859, at Mitchell, Iowa. He went through
the public schools and graduated from high school in
1877. He was employed by Fowler Brothers and
W. J. Quan & Company, packers at the Union Stock
Yards, prior to his association with the contracting
business. There is one other son, Judd E. Wells, who
is vice-president of Wells Brothers Company of New
York, contractors.
MacArthur Bros. Company. The well-known con-
tracting firm of MacArthur Bros. Company was estab-
lished in New York State in 1860 by Archibald Mac-
Arthur, together with his two brothers, James and Wil-
liam, and until 1893 was known under the name of
MacArthur Bros. Up to 1884 its specialty was the
construction of railroads and canals, but since then the
firm has undertaken successfully all kinds of construc-
tion work, including that of railroads, canals, streets,
sewers and all kinds of other heavy work of this
nature, as well as the erection of buildings and
bridges and the laying of their foundations. The firm
located in Chicago in 1874, and since that time,
has done a great deal of important work through-
out the West and Northwest, although its field of
operations is by no means limited to this portion of the
L'10
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
country. In the line of railroad construction, which they
have engaged in since their establishment here thirty
years ago, may be mentioned the building of the larger
portion of the heavy work of the Santa Fe extension
from Chicago to Kansas City ; the Chicago, Burlington
& Ouincy extension to St. Paul ; many of the smaller
extensions of the Manitoba Railroad in Minnesota, and
similar work for the Chicago Great Western Railroad.
In 1891 and 1892 seventy-five miles of road for the Chi-
cago & Eastern Illinois Railroad were constructed in the
central part of the state, and there has also been con-
siderable work of a like nature done for the Illinois Cen-
tral Railroad. This company have had contracts for con-
struction with nearly all the railroads coming into Chi-
cago. Between 1884 and 1890 the company had an es-
tablished office in St. Paul, and during that time com-
pleted over half of all the street improvements then
being made in that city, and between 1886 and 1890
about a million dollars of street work was also done for
the city of Duluth. For the World's Columbian Expo-
sition the firm executed contract No. i, which included a
large amount of dredging and the grading of the entire
grounds. They also erected the Horticultural building,
the Dairy building, the police station, the docking on
the lagoons and numerous smaller buildings. They had
an important part in digging the Drainage canal, doing
all the work on Section 2 and Section 4 and having
joint contracts for portions of Sections N and O.
Other contracts completed by the firm include the
construction of the foundation for the new Postoffice
building of this city and the building of two immense
locks for the government on the Cumberland River,
near Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1903 they were doing contract work in thirteen
states, extending from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, hav-
ing twenty-eight different contracts under execution at
one time. The company have at this time (1905) a large
contract with the United States Government for exca-
vating a channel through the rock at the west side of
Neebish Island, in St. Mary's River, near Sault Ste.
Marie, amounting to nearly $3,000,000; also a contract
with the city of New York for the construction of a
masonry dam on the Croton water system, amounting
to about $1,500,000, also several large railroad contracts
under execution at this time. They have just completed
the Wachusett dam for impounding water for the city
of Boston, which dam contains about 300.000 cubic
yards of stone masonry.
In 1893, shortly after the death of James Mac-
Arthur, the business was incorporated under the name
of Mac Arthur Bros. Company and in 1903 was
incorporated under the laws of New Jersey as Mac-
Arthur Bros. Company. The present officers of Mac-
Arthur Bros. Company are : Archibald MacArthur.
president : Arthur F. MacArthur, vice-president and
general manager; John R. MacArthur, secretary and
treasurer.
Archibald MacArthur, president of the firm of Mac-
Arthur Bros. Company, w'as born at Mount Morris, N.
Y., in 1834. His father was a prominent contractor in
New York State at that time, and from him his son
gained his first knowledge of the contracting business ;
his education was academic, in which he pursued a
course of civil engineering, but never followed civil
engineering as .a profession.
At that time the contracting business was far differ-
ent from what it is now ; without definite headquarters,
contractors traveled from place to place, wherever a
ARCHIBALD MAcARTHUR.
piece of work could be secured ; these temporary loca-
tions were generally retained only so long as was neces-
sary to complete the contract. In this rather itinerant
mode of life, contractors saw a considerable portion of
the world. Mr. MacArthur traveled through all of the
United States and Canada, Mexico, Central America,
South America, West Indies and the principal countries
of Europe.
At the age of twenty-one, together with his brothers,
James and William, he became one of the firm of Mac-
Arthur Bros., which, for nearly a quarter of a century,
engaged successfully in business, with its headquarters
in New York State ; its location being removed to Chi-
cago in 1873.
Arthur f. MacArthur, vice-president and general
manager of MacArthur Bros. Company, was born at
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
211
Oramel. New York, October 24, 1860. His parents are
Archibald and Keturah (Pratt) MacArthur.
He came to Chicago in 1874 and prepared for a col-
legiate course at the Chicago Academy, entering Har-
vard in the fall of 1878, from which institution he was
graduated with the class of '82, receiving the degree of
A. B. He then returned to Chicago and for the follow-
ARTHUR F. MACARTHUR.
ing two years was connected with the Chicago yard of
The W. & A. MacArthur Lumber Company of Cheboy-
gan, Michigan. In 1884 he moved to St. Paul, Minne-
sota, to take charge of the large street contracts under
execution for the city of St. Paul by the MacArthur
Bros. Company, contractors, but returned to Chicago in
1890 in order to take charge of the work being done by
them in preparing the grounds of Jackson Park for the
World's Fair. He was admitted to the firm in 1887,
and in 1893 became its treasurer.
Mr. MacArthur has traveled quite extensively. In
1888 he made a trip through Egypt, the Holy Land and
continental Europe, and in the winter of 1889 he spent
some months in visiting the countries of South Amer-
ica. He was married in 1889 to Miss Mary S. Barnum,
daughter of Mr. David Barnum of New York City.
John Meiggs Ewen, engineer and builder, vice-
president of the Thompson-Starrett Company, was born
at Newtown. New York, September 3, 1859. His father.
Warren Ewen, was for many years chief engineer of con-
struction for the railroads in Chili and Peru, South
America, among them the famous railroad in the clouds
to Oroya. Young Ewen spent his boyhood days in
South America with his father, but at the age of twelve
was sent to the Russell Military Academy at New-
Haven, Connecticut, and then to the Stevens Institute
of Technology, from which he was graduated in 1880.
Shortly afterward he was engaged as engineer in
charge of construction for the J. B. & J. M. Cornell
Iron Works at New York, where he had charge of the
erection of many buildings and also of the elevated
roads to Brooklyn. He next joined the forces of W.
L. B. Jenney, the Chicago' architect, going from there
to Burnham & Root, where he became general manager.
He left them in 1889 to organize the original Fuller
Company with George A. Fuller. He was vice-presi-
dent and general manager for years. He went to Lon-
don for the purpose of introducing American construc-
tion methods, but abandoned the idea and returned to
this country. After acting as consulting engineer for
the George A. Fuller Company until 1903, he became
vice-president and western representative of the
Thompson-Starrett Company, the largest builders in the
country, which position he now holds.
Mr. Ewen is a member of the American Society of
Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical
JOHN MEIGGS EWEN.
Engineers and the Western Society of Engineers. Dur-
ing the career of twenty-four years he has figured in the
construction of some of the largest office buildings in
the country, many of them in Chicago. He lias recently
been appointed to serve on the county commissioners'
committee to select plans for the new Cook County
court house. He is also one of the committee of engi-
neers appointed by the commissioner of Public Works to
212
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to report upon the construction of the Illinois Telephone
Company's subway of this city. The Thompson-Starrett
Company is now erecting the new Wanamaker store in
Philadelphia, the Union Station at Washington, the
Rockefeller building in Cleveland, the new Northern
Trust Bank building of this city, and the great plant for
Sears, Roebuck & Company. They recently completed
the Heyworth building and the Thomas Orchestra
building, both in Chicago, the Kuhn-Loeb, Empire-
Realty, Aeolin, Navarre Hotel, Marie Antoinette and
St. Regis hotel buildings in New York, the Touraine and
Title Guarantee and Trust buildings in Brooklyn, the
Penn building at Philadelphia, the Keystone Bank at
Pittsburg, the Union Bank in Winnipeg, Canada, and
others, ranging from twelve to twenty stories in height.
The Thompson-Starrett Company have offices in New
York, Chicago (Railway Exchange building), Boston,
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis, Cleve-
land, Pittsburg, Toronto and Winnipeg.
Henry W. Schlueter, well known as a contractor and
builder, was born at Unterluebbe, Westphalia, Ger-
many, on February 22, 1861. He spent his boyhood
days on his father's farm. After receiving an element-
ary education at the village school he entered the
gymnasium at the age of fourteen, studying architect-
ural drawing, engineering and kindred technical
branches. He graduated in 1880 and came to America
in October of the same year.
Finding his way to Wisconsin, he obtained employ-
ment in a lumber camp and sawmill in the northern
part of the state, and subsequently secured a posi-
tion as estimator and draughtsman for a large sash
and door factory. After learning the business he estab-
lished a factory of his own at Topeka, Kansas. The
following year the mill burned to the ground and the
business was abandoned. In June, 1891, he came to
Chicago, attracted by the World's Fair, and organized
the Congress Construction Company, of which he was
the vice-president and secretary and Gustav Ehrhardt
the president.
Mr. Schlueter established in 1898 an independent
contracting and building business, the offices of which
have been in the Marquette building for a number
of years.
At the St. Louis Exposition he erected the Trans-
portation building, the Fraternal Temple, the Cali-
fornia, Massachusetts and Wisconsin State buildings,
the Government Indian school, the foundation for the
Ferris Wheel, and the foundations for the installation
and testing plants for the Pennsylvania Railroad in the
Transportation building, for testing the speed and
power of locomotives. In addition to these, Mr.
Schlueter has erected numerous other large structures,
among them the Bartlett Gvmnasium at the University
of Chicago, the Sears, Roebuck & Co. building, the
court house at Des Moines, Iowa, where he had his own
sawmill and stone yards on the ground, and many
others. He is now engaged on several important jobs
in Iowa, the Deaf and Dumb school at Council Bluffs,
the Hall of History at Des Moines, and three buildings
HENRY W. SCHLUETER.
at the Iowa State College at Ames, all of the above
being state institutions.
Mr. Schlueter was married to Miss Minnie Meyers
of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and his two sons, Walter M.
and Christian H., and one daughter, Lillian. His eldest
son, Walter M., is now superintending the work at
Council Bluffs. Mr. Schlueter is a member of the
Automobile Club and the New Illinois Athletic Club,
besides being affiliated with a number of trade organi-
zations.
Robert W. Hunt & Co. The engineering and in-
specting firm of Robert W. Hunt & Co., with their
general offices in The Rookery, Chicago, and branch
offices in New York, Pittsburg and London, England,
was established in April, 1888. The firm is composed
of the following gentlemen : Robert W. Hunt, John J.
Cone, A. W. Fiero, James C. Hallsted and D. W. Mc-
Naugher.
The principal business of the firm is the inspection
of railway materials, such as rails, splice bars, bolts,
nuts, spikes and cars, also structural material for bridges
and buildings. They also have a special depart-
ment for the testing of the efficiency of engines and
boilers, notably city waterworks engines. In this con-
nection they have been employed by the city of Chicago
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
213
to supervise the construction and erection of the
engines purchased by it during the last few years, and
in addition have represented the city in the final duty
tests on which the engines were accepted. They also
represented the city of St. Paul in the same capacity,
and later the city of Buffalo.
They have designed several electric power stations
and cement factories.
The investigation and reporting upon manufactur-
ing establishments has become a very important
branch of their business. Some of the largest indus-
trial concerns in the United States have been reported
upon by them, and on such reports the reorganization
and the placement of bonds have been based.
In connection with the growing export trade of
the United States in both metals and machinery, the
firm has been employed by foreign purchasers to super-
vise the execution of their contracts. This covers not
only railway materials, but pumping engines, cars and
bridges.
The senior member of the firm, Robert W. Hunt,
was identified with the manufacture of Bessemer steel
in America from its earliest introduction, and had
ROBERT W. HUNT.
charge of the first Bessemer steel plant operated in
America, located at Wyandotte, Michigan, and after-
ward the steel works of the Cambria Iron Company,
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and the Troy Steel & Iron
Company, Troy, New York. In fact, the earliest steel
rails manufactured in this country on a commercial
basis were under his direction, and it was based upon
his long experience as a manufacturer that the firm
of Robert W. Hunt & Co. was established, and the
business developed. The other members of the firm
are all educated engineers and men who have had long
practical experience in manufacturing and inspection,
as well as other engineering work.
Mr. Hunt is a past president of the American Insti-
tute of Mining Engineers, the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers and the Western Society of
Engineers, and is also a member of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, and acted as secretary of
the committee of that society which designed and rec-
ommended the rail sections, which are now recognized
as the standard ones by the majority of the railroads of
the United States. He is also a member of the Insti-
tute of Civil Engineers and the Institute of Mechan-
ical Engineers and the Iron and Steel Institute. Mr.
Hunt's specifications for the manufacture of steel rails
are recognized as standard ones, and his papers, con-
tributed to the several scientific societies to which he
belongs, have had a very large influence upon the
development of the steel industry of America. In fact,
he is recognized as an authority on that subject, both in
this country and in Europe.
As necessary to their business, the firm have thor-
oughly equipped chemical and physical laboratories, in
which the assaying of ores and the analyses of metals,
oils, paints, etc., as well as the physical testing of materi-
als, are conducted. So well is the firm's reputation
established, that they have for their patrons nearly all
the most prominent railway systems of the country,
fully 75 per cent of the rails manufactured in America
being subject to their inspection.
Albert W. Fiero, civil engineer and member of the
firm of R. W. Hunt & Co., was born in Calhoun County,
Michigan, in June 1849. His parents, P. V. and Jane
(Halliday) Fiero, were early settlers in that county,
coming from New York State in 1836. After graduat-
ing from high school in 1871, he obtained employment
with the Grand Trunk Railroad, and the following
year he was made assistant engineer and put in charge
of the road's construction work between Cassopolis,
Michigan and Valparaiso, Indiana.
He resigned in 1873 to. accept a more responsible
position with the Chicago & Illinois Railway, as engi-
neer of construction, with headquarters at Joliet, Illinois.
Two years later he became inspector of rails for the Iron
and Steel Works of Joliet, whence he removed to St.
Louis, in 1876, to become foreman of the finishing
department of the Vulcan Iron and Steel Works of that
city. He returned to railroad work in 1878, assuming
charge of the construction of the line from Mexico, Mis-
souri, to Kansas City, but he was subsequently trans-
ferred to Joliet. He became identified with the R. W.
lil-t
THR CITY OF CHICAGO.
Hunt Company in 1888. of which firm lie has since
become a member.
Mr. Fiero is a member of the Western Society of
Engineers and the Engineers' Club of New York City,
the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of
Way Association, the American Institute of Mining
Engineers, and the Union League Club of Chicago,
and is politically a Republican. He was married in 1881
to Miss Florence Carpenter of Joliet, Illinois, and has
two children, Emilie Louise and Conro. The latter, who
was graduated from Yale University in June, 1904, is
cardinal duty of a good citixen. National and local
elections always find him ready to "do his duty as God
gives him to see his duty.''
ALBERT W. FIERO.
assistant engineer for the San Pedro, Los Angeles &
Salt Lake Railroad and also assistant engineer of the
Indiana Harbor Railroad.
John C. McMynn, mechanical engineer for Robert
W. Hunt & Company, was born January 16. 1869, at
Racine, Wisconsin, the son of Colonel John G. McMynn
and Marion (Clark) McMynn. Mr. McMynn was edu-
cated at his father's academy and at the University of
Wisconsin (1887-88-89). In 1890 he was given the
degree of B. A. at Williams College, Massachusetts.
He got his M. E. and M. M. E. from Cornell in 1891
and 1892 respectively.
In 1892 Mr. McMynn accepted an offer to come to
Chicago and associate himself with Robert W. Hunt &
Company.
Mr. McMynn is a prominent clubman. He holds
membership in the C. A. A., the Marquette, the Chicago
Yacht and the Columbia Yacht clubs. Politically he is
a dyed-in-the-wool Republican. Although an excep-
tionally busy man, Mr. McMynn never forgets the
JOHN C. McMYNN.
Mr. McMynn was married on January 15, 1904, to
Miss Elsie Voche of Chicago. Chicago has many brainy
young men. but few of them who have been the archi-
tects of their own fortune have such great gifts as has
young Mr. McMynn.
Bion J. Arnold was fourteen years o!d, when, using a
magazine picture for a model, he constructed the first
bicycle ever seen in Nebraska. Succeeding years have
trained and developed the mechanical genius of the one-
time precocious country boy, until to-day he is con-
sidered one of the leading electrical engineers of the
world. His father was a western pioneer and a mem-
ber of the first territorial legislature of Nebraska.
Other ancestors were leaders in the colonial and revo-
lutionary days of this country. Joseph Arnold wanted
his son to follow in his footsteps and read law, but the
successful completion of the bicycle convinced the
father that his son's talents were not those of a barrister.
A locomotive that would run was young Arnold's tri-
umph in his eighteenth year. The next year he left
home to come east, where he could meet older engi-
neers and attend school.
At the present time, Mr. Arnold divides the week
between his Chicago and New York offices. In Chicago
he is the consulting engineer for the city and upon him
devolves the burden of planning a satisfactory munici-
pal transportation system and reorganizing the
$100,000,000 worth of traction properties. In New
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
215
York he is acting' as consulting engineer for the New
York Central and the Grand Trunk Railway companies
and is a member of the commission that is designing
and installing- the $30.000.000 system by which the
New York Central Railroad will propel all trains within
thirty miles of the Grand Central station by electricity.
Mr. Arnold was born at Casenovia, near Grand
Rapids. Michigan. August 14. 1861. The family moved
to Nebraska where he attended school until entering
Hillsdale (Michigan) College, which gave him the
degree of B. S. in 1884. and the honorary degree of
M. Ph. in 1889. In 1903 his alma mater conferred on
him a testimonial diploma in recognition of his "dis-
tinguished learning and achievement in invention and
mechanical and electrical engineering." Mr. Arnold
also attended Cornell University and holds an honorary
degree from the University of Nebraska. He was only
27 years old and mechanical engineer of the Great
Western Road when he resigned the position to enter a
post-graduate course at Cornell. Not satisfied with a
position in which many an older engineer would have
been contented, he was willing to start anew in order
to equip himself for further advance in his profession.
After leaving Hillsdale College, Mr. Arnold's first
position was with the Upton Manufacturing Company
of Port Huron. From there he went to the Edward P.
Allis Company of Milwaukee. In 1887-1888 he was
mechanical engineer of the Chicago & Great Western
Railroad; from 1888 to 1889, general agent of the
Thomson-Houston Electric Company of St. Louis, and
from 1890 to 1893, consulting engineer for the General
Electric Company.
Since that time he has been in business for himself.
He designed the Intramural Railway at the World's
Columbian Exposition and its equipment was an inno-
vation in electrical engineering. The electrical plant
of the Chicago Board of Trade which is copied by many
office buildings where economy of space is desired, was
planned and installed by him.
The Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway,
equipped by him. demonstrated to the world the prac-
ticability of his theory of long-distance electrical rail-
roading. One of the mountain lines of the Burlington
system was also equipped by him. Mr. Arnold holds
patents covering his inventions and has written various
technical articles of value to his profession.
He has always been a pronounced advocate of the
merits of the storage battery and has probably done
more than any other man to demonstrate and prove its
efficiency and economy of operation. So positive were
his opinions when he installed the sub-station rotary
converter storage-battery system for the Chicago & Mil-
waukee Electric Railway, that he financially guaran-
teed the efficiency and operation of the entire line. So
great was the saving over previous methods of opera-
tion that now electric roads are generally equipped with
the same system. His pioneer work in single-phase
traction has recently caused another advance in the art
of electric railroading and makes practicable the electri-
fication of many steam roads. The problem of operat-
ing the trains of the New York Central with electricity
is one of great difficulty. Upon its successful solution
will depend whether electricity is to be installed as a
motive power for railroads.
Numerous reports on Chicago's traction problem
have been presented by Mr. Arnold since he first took
up the work. The first comprehensive plan for routing,
equipping and operating all lines — elevated, surface or
subway — was presented November i, 1902, after four
BION J. ARNOLD.
months' investigation. Supplementary reports have
since followed. Traction negotiations even in other
cities are based on these reports of the Chicago situ-
ation.
Mr. Arnold is president of the Arnold Company, an
electrical engineering corporation, operating for many
of the principal steam railway companies of the coun-
try. He also is president of the Kenosha (Wisconsin)
Electric Railway Company. He is a member and a
former president of the American Institute of Electri-
cal Engineers, and was one of its five representatives
at the International Electrical Congress at Paris in
1900. He is a trustee of Hillsdale College and has
served as a trustee of the Western Society of Engineers.
He was first vice-president and chairman of the execu-
tive committee of the International Electrical Con-
gress at St. Louis in 1904. He is vice-president of the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
United Engineering- Society of New York, an organi-
zation having charge of the $1,500,000 donation of
Andrew Carnegie for the construction of a joint engi-
neering building for the American Institute of Electri-
cal Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers and the American Institute of Mining
Engineers.
Mr. Arnold is also a member of the Union League
Club of Chicago, the Transportation and Engineering
clubs of New York, the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, the American Society for the
Promotion of Engineering Education and the Ameri-
can Society of Civil Engineers.
Lyman Edgar Cooley, civil engineer, was born at
Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, December
5, 1850, the son of Albert B. and Aksah (Griswold)
Cooley. He is a great-grandson of John Cooley, who
removed to western New York from Connecticut
early in the nineteenth century, making his home on a
farm a few miles west of Canandaigua.
The family is traced to Sir William Cooley in
England, before whose time the name is found written
Cowley and Colley. A collateral branch was the Well-
esley or Wesley family, and from one Richard Colley,
who assumed this name to inherit estates, Arthur
Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, was descended.
The original Cooley in this country came to New
England prior to 1636, and from this stock has sprung
many able men, among whom is the late Judge Thomas
M. Cooley of Michigan.
After a course of study at the Canandaigua Acad-
emy, Lyman E. Cooley taught in that institution in
1870-1872, and then attended the Rensselaer Polytech-
nic Institute at Troy, where he was graduated in 1874,
having covered the course in two years. In 1874-1877
he became the professor of engineering at North-
western University, and in 1876-1878 was associate
editor of the Engineering News. In 1878 he aided
William Sooy Smith in the construction of the railroad
bridge over the Missouri, at Glasco, Missouri. Later
in the year he was engaged under Major (now Colonel)
Suter, on the improvement of the Missouri and Mis-
sissippi rivers, with headquarters at St. Louis. For
four years following he had charge of local improve-
ments and surveys in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri,
Arkansas and Tennessee. For two years more he
was chief assistant, in general charge of all local
work on the Missouri River below Yankton. Return-
ing to Chicago toward the end of 1884, ^r- Cooley
became editor of the American Engineer, but in
1885 severed his connection with that journal.
Later he became interested in sanitary agitation. As
a member of a sub-committee of the Citizens' associa-
tion, he drew the report, in September, 1885, which
began the public agitation in favor of a sanitary canal,
and aided in securing the organization of a drainage
and water supply commission, of which he was chief
assistant in 1886-1887. In 1888, he was consulting
engineer to the city, and to the commission that framed
the sanitary district act, and represented the city and its
seven civic organizations in promoting the bill to a
passage by the State Legislative in 1889. He acted as
engineer to the commission that determined the bound-
aries of the Sanitary District in 1889, and was the first
chief engineer during 1890. He became a member
of the board of trustees in 1891, serving until the expira-
tion of his term in December, 1895, and during the
entire time was chairman of the Engineering Com-
LYMAN EDGAR COOLEY.
mittee. He also acted as consulting engineer of the
Sanitary District in 1897. Since 1889 he has taken an
active interest in the extension of the taxing power in
the district : in fact, has stood sponsor for all legislation
thus far had in relation to this question. In 1895 he
was appointed by President Cleveland a member of the
international deep-watenvays commission (a joint
commission with Canada), together with Dr. James
B. Angell, of Michigan, and John E. Russell, of Massa-
chusetts, and had charge of the investigation. Surveys
have since been made for ocean navigation from the
Atlantic seaboard to Chicago and Duluth via the Great
Lakes. Of the international association to promote this
project, he is the American vice-president. In the fall of
1897, Mr. Cooley, with a number of contractors and
engineers selected by him, went to Nicaragua, incidently
visiting Panama, for the purpose of advancing the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
217
Nicaragua Canal. The events of the Spanish war
interrupted their plans, and the project has since been a
matter of government concern.
In the summer of 1898 he acted as advisory engi-
neer to the committee appointed by Governor Black
to investigate the expenditures for the improvements
of the canals of the state of New York under what is
known as the "Nine Million Act." In 1896-1897 he
served as a member of the expert committee appointed
by Mayor Swift of Chicago to devise a remedy for the
pollution of Lake Michigan by means of intercepting
sewers, etc. He has been a member of the Western
Society of Civil Engineers since 1875, and in 1888 was
its secretary, and was its president two terms, 1890-
1891. In 1901 he was a member of the Expert Com-
mission on a comprehensive plan for the completion
of the works of the Sanitary District of Chicago. He
has been the consulting engineer for the Union Water
Company, Denver, Colorado, during the construction
of the Cheesman dam, which controls the flow of the
South Platte near the outlet of South Park. This dam
is the highest in the world, requiring four years for its
construction. It is 225 feet high and forms a reservoir
with a depth of 210 feet, and is designed to control a
reserve supply of water for the City of Denver, and is
sufficient for three years. Mr. Cooley is engineer for
the Keokuk & Hamilton Water Power Company,
which recently secured the consent of congress to the
construction of a dam across the Mississippi River at
the foot of the Des Moines rapids. This dam will be
over a mile long, and 30 to 35 feet high, and will pro-
duce a minimum of over 60,000 horse power. Mr.
Cooley has continued to promote the deep waterway
between Chicago and St. Louis, which formed part of
his original conception of the sanitary solution in 1885.
Mr. Cooley is a member of the American Society of
Civil Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers, the
Chicago Academy of Sciences, the National Geographic
Society, and the Chicago Press Club.
He has lectured at the State Universities of Wis-
consin, Illinois and Michigan. His most important
publications on his special subject are : "Lakes and
Gulf Waterways" (1888-1889), and a more elaborate
work with the same title in 1891.
He was married at Canandaigua, New York,
December 31, 1874, to Lucena, daughter of Peter and
Lucena McMillan. They have two sons and a daughter.
Henry M. Byllcsby, president of H. M. Byllesby &
Company, incorporated, is one of the well-known
mechanical engineers of the city, whose name con-
nected with a big commercial enterprise is looked upon
as a guarantee of its success. He was born in New
Jersey, the son of the Rev. DeWitt C. and Sarah
Mathews Byllesby, and was educated in Lehigh Uni-
versity as a mechanical engineer. He afterward served
in the shops and drafting office of Robert Wetherill &
Co., Chester, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently in the
engineering department of the Edison Electric Light
Company, New York. Mr. Byllesby then became first
vice-president and general manager of the Westing-
house Electric Company, managing director of the
Westinghouse Electric Company, Limited, of London,
England, and afterward president of the Northwestern
General Electric Company.
Mr. Byllesby's rapid advance in the world of electric
development soon gave him a foremost position among
the electrical experts of the country. During the first
few years after his leaving college he was constantly
HENRY M. BYLLESBY.
identified with the development of electric light, street
railways, power transmission and gas plants. He
launched into a business career for himself when H. M.
Byllesby & Company was incorporated and he became
president of the corporation. The company is engaged
in the business of consulting, designing and construct-
ing engineers for all classes of railway, light, gas,
hydraulic and power transmission plants.
The company is largely interested as managers and
engineers and also as part owners in utility properties
at San Diego, California, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma
Territory, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Zanesville, Ohio,
Mansfield. Ohio, as well as a large number of prop-
erties distributed generally throughout the country.
Although his business interests have been vast, Mr.
Byllesby has found time to indulge in the social ameni-
ties of life and is a member of the Union League Club,
IMS
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Chicago, tlie Midlothian Country Club, Chicago, the
Lawyers' Club, New York City and the Queen City
Club, Cincinnati, Ohio.
He married Margaret Stearns, daughter of the late
H. P. Baldwin of the New Jersey Central Railroad
Company. His residence is at 4642 Lake avenue,
Chicago.
James Ormerod Heyworth, one of the most success-
ful of western civil engineers and contractors, was born
at Chicago, June 12, 1866. His elementary education
was secured in the grammar and high schools of this
city. After graduating from high school with honors,
Mr. Heyworth entered Yale University and completed
his college education at that institution.
Even as a boy, Mr. Heyworth's tastes inclined
to engineering and scientific work. His studies and
JAMES ORMEROD HEYWORTH.
collegiate training were directed along the lines he pre-
ferred and he started active engineering work imme-
diately after leaving college. As a general contractor
he has supervised and completed important engineering
undertakings in many parts of the United States. The
immense jetties at Port Arthur, Texas, were con-
structed by him. Those at Fernandino, Florida, also,
are the result of his planning and work. The locks and
dams of the Warrior river in Alabama are others of
his accomplishments. Various sections of Chicago's
superb track elevation system now are being built by
Mr. Heyworth. A number of other large engineering
tasks are under his charge and nearing completion.
Mr. Heyworth's parents were James O. and Julia
F. (Dimon) Heyworth. He was married to Miss Mar-
tica G. Waterman of Southport, Connecticut, and has
his home at Lake Forest, Illinois. Mr. Heyworth
is a member of numerous social and professional
clubs. Among the number are : The University Club,
the Calumet Club, the Engineers Club, the Onwentsia
Club, the Washington Park Club, the Chicago Yacht
Club and the Tolleston Club. His business office is
in the Railway Exchange building.
Kohler Brothers, contracting engineers, specialize
in the complete installation of lighting and power
plants, the building of electric railways and various
phases of newspaper and printing press engineering.
The reputation of the firm in the latter line is world-
wide, and it owns many valuable patents which increase
the production of press rooms, save time and paper,
and govern and control presses and other machinery
by means of electric push buttons.
The firm was organized in 1891 by G. A. Edward
Kohler and Franklin W. Kohler. Its main offices are in
Chicago, occupying suites 1804 to 1812 Fisher build-
ing. The factory is located at 54-56 Custom House
court. The New York office is in the Metropolitan
Life building and the European office is in London at
56 Ludgate Hill.
Among the electrical contracts that the company
has completed in and near Chicago are the following :
Chicago & Alton railroad shops, Chicago, Burlington
& Quincy railroad shops, the Illinois Central terminal
and suburban stations, the Oregon Short Line shops,
South Side Elevated Railroad entire installation, the
Union Pacific Railroad shops, the lighting and heating
plants of the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane
and the Illinois Northern Hospital for the Insane, the
lighting plant of the St. Charles Home for Boys, and
numerous other public and private institutions.
The devices of Kohler Brothers are used in printing
establishments in all parts of the world. Collectively
these inventions are known as The Kohler System,
and are adopted in their entirety by most of the best
equipped newspaper offices. The Kohler System
includes patents covering Stone magazine reels, for
continuously feeding paper without stopping the press,
pneumatic lifts, paper carriers, trucks and lifts, plate
trucks, auto-plate controllers, flat-bed press controllers
and all devices entering into the operation of news-
paper and printing plants. Their electric push-button
method of control is the most distinctive feature of the
system.
After the great Baltimore fire, every new press-
room in the city, except one, was designed, recon-
structed and equipped with The Kohler System.
Notable printing establishments which use this sys-
tem for the electrical operation and speed control of
their presses and other machinery are : The United
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
21!)
States Government Printing Office, the Chicago Daily
News, the Chicago Tribune, the Brooklyn Eagle, the
Baltimore American, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
Frank A. Munsey, R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company,
the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Sears, Roe-
buck & Company, Arbuckle Brothers, the Morning
Post of London, Le Matin of Paris, El Mercuric
of Santiago, Chili, and hundreds of others.
The Roebling Construction Company, after a long
series of practical experiments, has perfected one of the
most effective and economical systems of fireproof con-
struction for modern buildings, and its systems of floors
and partitions is rapidly becoming one of the best known
and most favored throughout the country.
Fireproof construction as an economic feature of
modern buildings has in recent years attained a position
of great importance and has been the subject of exhaust-
ive investigation by engineers and architects, and claims
an important place in all engineering and architectural
journals. Numerous methods are now on the market,
only a few of which satisfactorily fulfill the requirements,
and some of these are so expensive as to preclude their
extensive use.
The main offices of The Roebling Construction
Company are located in New York City, where it
employs a very large force of engineers. Its factories
are at Trenton, New Jersey. Branch offices are located
in the principal cities of the country, and the company
is prepared to make estimates promptly and execute
contracts in all parts of the United States, Canada and
Mexico.
The Chicago office is in charge of Mr. Andrew \Y.
Woodman, who is not only the Western but also the
New England agent of the corporation, having another
office at Boston, where he spends part of his time. He
is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech-
nology and has been associated with The Roebling Con-
struction Company since its incorporation. His early
experience in structural work was obtained in the East,
where he served for a number of years with one of the
leading bridge companies, after being graduated from
college.
Among the fireproof buildings in Chicago in which
the company has erected its system of floor construction
may be mentioned : Orchestra Hall, the addition to
the Rialto building, the addition to the Union League
Club, The Inter Ocean's new building, Brooke's Casino,
McVicker's and other theaters and numerous high-class
apartment buildings and hotels.
Some of the largest works of the company have
been carried on in New York dty, as that city has the
reputation of erecting more new buildings than any
other citv in the country. It has built its floors in some
of the finest hotels and private residences in the coun-
try, notably: the Astoria, the St. Regis, the Astor and
the Belmont hotels, the Andrew Carnegie, P. A. B.
Widener and Edwin J. Benvind residences. At present
the company is engaged upon the largest fireproof build-
ing in the world, the store of John Wanamaker at Phila-
delphia, a building which will contain about forty acres
of floor space.
The system of floors as developed by the company
is capable of economic use in any and all kinds of build-
ings, and in each case the type of floor used is scientific-
ally designed so as to properly meet the existing condi-
tions. By its method the company can with ease build
floors capable of sustaining the heaviest loads, as proof
of which may be cited the fact that its construction has
in several instances been used for the floors of heavy
bridges. Experiments made of a section of flooring
previously subjected to a five-hour fire test, in which
the temperature reached a height of 2,350 degrees,
proved that it could sustain a load of 4,100 pounds per
square foot.
The Roebling system is impregnable to fire, can be
quickly installed and assures immunity from those
unsightly stains which so generally appear on ceilings
where other forms of floors are used. It is the cheapest
and most successful of all the fireproofing systems, and
buildings where it is used are assured of the lowest rates
of insurance.
E. C. & R. M. Shankland, of the Rookery building,
is one of the leading engineering firms in the West. The
firm was organized in 1898, both brothers at that time
being connected with D. H. Burnham & Company, the
architects. Edward Clapp Shankland came into interna-
tional prominence in 1892, when he acted as engineer
of construction of the World's Columbian Exposition
and later as chief engineer of the fair. He was born in
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1854. At an early
age he went with his parents to Dubuque, Iowa, where
he was educated in the public schools. In 1878 he was
graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in
Troy, New York, as a civil engineer. . Immediately after
his graduation he was employed by the national govern-
ment on the improvement of the Mississippi and Mis-
souri rivers, being engaged in this work for five years.
From 1883 to 1889 Mr. Shankland made a reputation as
an engineer in bridge work at Canton, Ohio. In the
latter year he joined the staff of Burnham & Root in
Chicago, designing the steel work for many of the
modern skyscrapers in the country. In 1894 he became
a member of the firm of D. H. Burnham & Company,
where he remained until he entered into partnership
with his brother. The specialty of the firm is the
designing of steel work for modern buildings.
Mr. Shankland has received many testimonials of
his ability. He has been awarded the Telford gold
220
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
medal and premium from the Institute of Civil Engi-
neers for a paper read by him on "Steel Skeleton
Structure in Chicago." Cornell College, Iowa, gave
him the honorary degree of M. A. He is a member of
the American Society of Civil Engineers, American
Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of
Civil Engineers, Western Society of Engineers, Ameri-
EDVVARD CLAPP SHANKLAND.
can Society of Testing Materials, and Franklin Institute.
He is also a member of the University, Midday, Press
and Engineers' clubs. He resides with his wife and
three children at 4808 Champlain avenue.
Ralph Martin Shankland was born in Dubuque,
Iowa, September 8, 1863. He was graduated as a
civil engineer from the University of Michigan in 1888.
In 1890 he came to Chicago and entered the employ of
D. H. Burnham & Company. He remained there until
1898, when he formed the present partnership with his
brother.
He is a member of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, the Western Society of Engineers, Kenwood,
Homewood, University and Midday clubs.
In 1894 he married and with his wife and one son
makes his home at the Hyde Park hotel.
Thomas Elevator Company. The construction or
material elevator is the mechanical heart whose throbs
mark the life and growth of a modern skyscraper. The
use and development of the elevator has accompanied
and been a phase in the adoption of the present style
of office building. Twenty-five years ago when build-
ings were few stories in height, elevators to carry
materials and tools were unnecessary and unheard of.
To-day, even the temporary disabling of a construction
elevator means the halting of all work on the building.
The Thomas Elevator Company of Chicago is the
pioneer in the devising, manufacturing and operating
of such elevators. It was the first concern to perfect
and install the electrical hoist, and there is hardly a large
building in Chicago in whose construction this com-
pany has not assisted.
In the construction of the immense new plant of
Sears, Roebuck & Company, thirty electrical hoists are
now being operated by the company. This is the
largest number ever in use in one building at one time
and for their maintenance alone it was necessary that
the elevator company install a sub-station at a cost of
$4,000.
The Thomas Elevator Company has been operating
since the Chicago fire in 1871. With the advent of
the high building came the era of the steam machine
hoist. Four years ago, realizing the possibilities of
electrical appliances, the company began experimenting
with electrical hoists, though to adopt them meant the
discarding of more than one hundred steam engines.
The electrical machine was found to be far superior
in doing away with steam, smoke, water, grease and
E. A. THOMAS.
other dirt, and the engines were thrown away. The
electrical hoists were first used in the construction of
the Trude building. Since that time they have beer,
used with absolute success in every large building in
the down-town district.
They are operated at an average speed of one story
per second — the top floor of a twenty-story building
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
221
being reached in twenty seconds. This means to the
builder that his material arrives as promptly and his
work is conducted as cheaply on the twentieth as on
the second story. Contractors realize the vital charac-
ter of the elevators and their stopping means the tie-
up of the material and all the workmen on the building.
As a safety precaution a stringent rule is always
enforced against carrying workmen on these elevators.
The machinery is not rented to contractors but the
elevator company receives a subcontract to furnish,
install, maintain and operate these machines when a
building is being constructed.
The steam hoists are still used on small buildings
and outside of the business sections of cities. On some
buildings even horsepower hoists are used. The first
hoists a generation ago were operated by hand power,
and still continue in use on small flat buildings.
The main office, factory and store house of the
Thomas Elevator Company are at 113 to 115 South
Hoyne avenue. A branch office for Chicago is at State
and Fifty-first streets. In 1895 another branch office
was started in New York, which has come to be one of
the largest of its kind in the East.
E. A. Thomas, the head of the company, was born
in Delavan, Wisconsin, March 19, 1850. He came to
Chicago in 1871 and took a place with his brother, the
late Charles E. Thomas, in the present business. Chi-
cago has been his permanent home since that time. He
has always taken an interest in the business affairs of
the city and is a director of the Builders' Club and a
member of the Chicago Athletic Association.
The Illinois Brick Company was incorporated March
31, 1900, under the laws of Illinois, to consolidate under
one ownership and control the principal brick interests
of Chicago. The properties acquired by the company
embrace thirty-six brick-making plants, including those
of the Hoyt & Alsip Brick Company, Alsip Brick Com-
pany, Purington-Kimbell Brick Company, Weckler
Brick Company. Weckler-Prussing Brick Company,
Wehl Brothers, Purington Brick Company, Thomas
Moulding Company, Evanston Brick Company, Jeffer-
son Brick Company, Bernard F. Weber, Harms-Schlake
Brick Company, Will Brothers, Riemer, Labahn &
Kuester, Henry J. Lutter, Wolff & Blaul, Robinson
Brick Company, Gray Tuthill Company, J. Hundriser
Company, Harland Brick Company, Shermanville Brick
Company, Michael Myers, John Busse & Son and Wil-
liam Mensching.
The capital stock is $4,000,000, 6 per cent cumula-
tive preferred, of which $3,550,500 was issued, and
$5,000,000 common, of which $4,350,500 is outstanding.
The preferred shareholders are entitled to priority as
to assets.
The company has $370,000 trust deed obligations
among its liabilities, and as an offset thereto has
$300,000 bonds in the treasury.
The officers of the Illinois Brick Company are:
President, George C. Prussing; vice-president, A. J.
Weckler; secretary, W. E. Schlake; treasurer, C. D. B.
Howell ; auditor, Charles B. Ver Nooy. The directors
are : Geo. C. Prussing, William Schlake, C. D. B.
Howell, C. B. Ver Nooy, Wm. Legnard, Adam J.
Weckler, Joseph Moulding, Phillip Lichtenstadt, D. R.
Forgan, E. C. Potter, M. A. Farr.
Martin B. Madden's rise from a farmer boy to a
member of Congress is a story of political and business
success with few parallels. He was born in England, at
Darlington, March 20, 1855. His father, John Madden,
was one of the Third Estate and his mother, Eliza
O'Neill, was descended of the ancient ruling family. The
Maddens migrated to America in 1860, arriving at
Lemont, Illinois. When Martin was six years old he
was sent to the public schools, which he attended four
years. In his early youth he worked on neighboring
farms, the while attending night school.
His life was not particularly eventful, except for
his marriage to Miss Josephine Smart of Downer's
Grove, Illinois, 'in 1878, and his purchase of an interest
in the Joliet Stone Company in 1881, until April. 1889,
when his political endeavors commenced. He was
elected alderman to represent the Fourth Ward, and
two years later he was returned to his seat by the over-
whelming majority of 1,500 votes. He served a third
term from 1891 to 1893, his third election being marked
by a 2,000 plurality. During these six years of public
service Mr. Madden made an enviable record for him-
self. He was the chief sponsor for the civil service
reform movement. The final passage of the Merit law,
in 1895, during his fourth term, may be ascribed to his
efforts. He accomplished much in the way of improv-
ing the city's finances, and also busied himself very
largely with the traction problem.
Three times Mr. Madden was urged to run for
Mayor, but he stepped aside for George B. Swift, whose
ticket was successful by a majority of 4,000. He played
a prominent part in the national campaign of 1896,
probably the most memorable in history, when Bryan
espoused the silver cause. As an orator of abilty, Mr.
Madden was instrumental in making votes for Me Kin-
ley and returning Illinois to the Republican ranks by a
comfortable margin.
Business duties curbed his political activities for
eight years following. He had become president of the
Western Stone Company in 1891, and the concern had
by this time grown to an enterprise of some magnitude.
To-day it represents the consolidation of twelve distinct
stone companies, and is one of the largest industries
in the state. In this connection Mr. Madden's views
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
upon the trust and labor problems are interesting. He
is himself a large employer of labor, in addition to being
an organizer, and is consequently equipped to offer a
solution for these economic questions. The remedy he
suggests is to apply the national bank method of super-
vision to all trusts or combinations that make or handle
articles of universal necessity, and having the states
adopt similar methods of supervising local combinations.
In the national election of 1904, Mr. Madden, at a
great personal sacrifice, accepted the nomination for
Congress in the First district, where he was elected by a
good margin in a hitherto Democratic stronghold.
Mr. Madden's success calls to mind a prophetic
utterance of his mother, when Martin was yet in his
teens :
"I have raised a son," she said, "who will not lie,
nor take anything that does not belong to him, nor own
anything that he has not paid for in full. He will not
say anything against his neighbor, even if that neighbor
be his enemy. He will not go into debt for himself.
He will live on less than he earns and ever have money
011 hand to help himself and his friends along. He will
all his days do for his employers more than he may be
paid to do. He has a fine mind, a good tongue and a
clean soul, and he will keep them that way as long as he
lives, 1 know. He cannot easily be deceived, can take
care of himself, and will never deserve any shame. He
will rise from the time he left home and will not fall
until he dies, and he will always stand up tall and
straight among his fellow men. I am satisfied alto-
gether with him and proud of what I have done in
rearing him. The greatest statesman can do no more
for the country than I have done in giving Martin to
it — God bless them both."
The Meacham & Wright Company. The firm of
Meacham & Wright, manufacturers' agents and dealers
in hydraulic cements, stucco, etc.. was organized in 1874
by Floras D. Meacham and Frank S. Wright. It is the
sole distributing agents for the Utica Cement companies
of La Salle County, Illinois, and its business ramifica-
tions extend to all points throughout the country where
the Utica hydraulic cement has been known and used
for upward of fifty years. The firm is likewise one of the
largest dealers in imported and domestic Portland
cements in the Central and Western states, and for years
it has furnished the cementing material for a large
majority of the celebrated engineering and architectural
works executed in Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Kansas
City, St. Paul, Detroit, Cleveland, Indianapolis, etc., and
for practically all the railroads radiating from Chicago.
The well-known Utica cement, whose entire output of
3,000 barrels per diem is alone controlled and distributed
by this firm through its Chicago and St. Louis houses,
has been exclusively used since 1853 in the construction
of the entire water supply and sewerage systems of the
city of Chicago, and largely in its gas works and cable
traction and other street railroad systems, and in its
roadway and sidewalk paving foundations. On January
14, 1903, the firm was incorporated under the name of
the Meacham & Wright Company. Its officers are
Floras D. Meacham, president : Frank S. Wright, vice-
president.
Florus D. Meacham, of the firm of Meacham &
Wright, was born at Whitehall, Washington County,
New York, on April 26. 1843. He is the son of Floras
D. and Lucinda (Church) Meacham.
Mr. Meacham came to Chicago with his parents in
1857, and up to the time of the Civil war was engaged
FLORUS D. MEACHAM.
as a clerk in the offices of the Illinois Central Railroad.
When the war broke out he would have been one of the
first to enlist had he followed his own inclinations, but
he yielded to the entreaties of his parents and remained
at home. A year later, however, when it was found that
the suppression of the rebellion was not to be as easy
as was at first thought, a number of young men, com-
posed for the greater part of employees of the large mer-
cantile houses of the city, organized the Chicago
Mercantile Battery. The name of Floras D. Meacham
was on the enlistment roll, and he went to the front with
others who had lain down their work that they might
help save the Union.
Mr. Meacham served until the close of hostilities. In
the first year of army life he took part in the Mississippi
River campaign, and in the following year went through
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
the siege at Vicksburg from its commencement in the
early spring- until the final surrender on July 4. After
the capitulation of this place he was with General Banks
on the Red River campaign, and after this his battery
was sent to New Orleans, and subsequently took part,
under General Davidson, in the land operations against
Mobile, which was among the last of the Southern ports
to fall.
Returning to Chicago in 1865, Mr. Meacham was
mustered out with the remaining members of his battery
who had survived the three years of service in the field.
Taking up civil life where he had left it, he was engaged
in various mercantile pursuits until 1874, when, with
Mr. F. S. Wright, he organized the firm of Meacham &
Wright, dealers in Utica and Portland cements. This
business has been very successful, and is by far the
largest of its kind in the country.
Mr. Meacham is a Republican in his political affilia-
tions, and, although he has never sought office, he was
honored by the Republican County Convention of 1898
with the nomination for member of the Board of Review,
to which position he was elected November 8, 1898,
and reflected in November, 1904. This office, which is
one of the most important to the taxpayer, is the arbiter
in all matters that pertain to both real and personal tax-
ation, and his election was but a just recognition of his
executive ability and his successful business career.
Mr. Meacham is a member of the Loyal Legion and
of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is also identi-
fied with the Illinois and Lincoln clubs, and has a high
standing among the business men of Chicago.
Frank S. Wright, of the firm of Meacham & Wright,
is a native of the Badger State, having been born at
Milwaukee, July 27, 1846. He is the son of Peter B. and
Elizabeth (Ledden) Wright. Mr. Wright received his
education in the common schools of his native city and
in those of Sheboygan in the same state, to which latter
place his parents removed when he was ten years of
age. When he was fifteen, however, he gave up his
studies and came to Chicago in search of work. His
first employment was with the commission house of
Shackford & How. afterward better known, perhaps,
under the name of George M. How. Here he remained
until the spring of 1867, when, although not yet of age,
he formed a partnership with Mr. A. C. Scoville, under
the name of Scoville & Wright, and engaged in the com-
mission business at No. 44 West Lake street. This firm
had a prosperous career until January i, 1869, when Mr.
Wright withdrew and entered the employ of Haskin,
Martin & Wheeler, wholesale dealers in salt and cement.
He remained with them until the formation of the pres-
ent firm of Meacham & Wright, some few years later.
Mr. Wright is a strong Republican in his political
views and a member of the Illinois Club. He takes
much interest in the welfare of the fraternal order known
as the Royal League, and as a member of its Supreme
Council was very active during its early years in building-
it up and placing it on its present secure footing.
FRANK S. WRIGHT.
He was married January 4, 1866, to Miss Mercy A.
McClevey, daughter of Colonel Smith McClevey of Chi-
cago, and has a family of four daughters and one son.
The Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, [t is
not generally known that the majority of our great
skyscrapers are built of clay. A visit to the immense
plant of the Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, 1000
Clybourn avenue, will prove the truth of this, however.
This company is the largest terra cotta concern in the
world, in size as well as output. The plant covers about
twenty acres of ground on the north side.
To see carloads of clay come in at one end and
watch it through various metamorphoses, until it is
shipped out as architectural terra cotta, of almost end-
less colors and designs and of a durability that will
withstand the wear of centuries, is an interesting study.
Coming into the plant, the clay is ground to a powder
and then mixed with water until it becomes pliable and
elastic. It is next put into molds of plaster of Paris.
These molds have been made from models done in
modeling clay by sculptors. Having received their
forms in these molds, the pieces of soft clay are put
into a drying room until all moisture has evaporated,
leaving them hard and firm. The surfaces are then semi-
glazed or enameled by being sprayed with a chemical
mixture with compressed air. The material is then
ready for the final process, that of burning. In great
224
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
kilns, of which there are twenty-six at the plant, each
as large as a house, it is subjected to the constant heat
of a roaring fire for seven days. The brick door of the
kiln is gradually taken down when the fire is extin-
guished, the ware being allowed to cool for several
days. The kiln is then opened and terra cotta, a
material of high compressive strength and lightness,
taken out, where clay had been put in. The inside of
each block of terra cotta is hollow for brick filling.
In the thirty years the Northwestern Terra Cotta
Company has been in existence it has furnished terra
cotta for numberless skyscrapers and for government
rotunda in cream-colored terra cotta, instead of marble.
This work was done by the Northwestern Company
as was the exterior of the Railway Exchange building.
The officers of the concern are skilled by long expe-
rience in the manufacture of terra cotta, dating back
to the time of their predecessors, the Chicago Terra
Cotta Company. The president, G. Hottinger, was a
sculptor. John R. True, vice-president and treasurer,
gained his first experience as a clerk, and F. Wagner,
the secretary, was an architect.
Cameron L. Willey, importer, exporter and manu-
facturer of foreign and domestic hardwood lumber and
THE NORTHWESTERN TERRA- COTTA COMPANY'S PLANT.
and public buildings thoughout the country. Seven
hundred and fifty employees, working in eight-hour
shifts, make the plant a scene of industry, night and
day. At the St. Louis Fair the products of the company
received the grand prize, in a competition with seventy
exhibitors. First awards were also received at New
Orleans in 1884 and at Chicago in 1893. An interesting
exhibit of the work done by the company is made at
its branch office in the Railway Exchange building. The
walls of the room are built of inlaid enameled terra
cotta in an almost infinite variety of shades and colors.
At the time the Railway Exchange building was
erected an innovation was made in executing the
veneer, is the proprietor and operator of the largest
veneer plant in the world. His offices, yards, docks
and factories are located at 1225 Robey street, south of
Blue Island avenue. The eastern and export office is
at 130 Pearl street, New York city; the foreign office is
at No. 45 Exchange Chambers, Liverpool, England.
The Chicago business of C. L. Willey was estab-
lished in 1891. Previous to that he had been in business
for himself in Pittsburg, selling out his interests there
in 1889. The Eastern business had been established in
1877 and grown steadily. After coming west, Mr. Willey
pushed his plant forward until now it outranks all com-
petitors and is the only one of five in the United States.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
The ability to produce the choicest veneer is acquired
only through long experience in manufacturing and by
having access to a vast quantity of hardwood logs from
which to make selection. The whole world is ransacked
for the logs that are sawed in this mill, and constant
CAMERON L. WILLEY.
investigation keeps the concern in the foreground in
advanced methods of manufacture.
Agents for. Mr. Willey are constantly traveling
through the United States and in foreign countries in
search of material. He has just returned from an
extended trip through Europe, where he studied the
foreign methods of veneer manufacture. Mr. Willey
personally supervises the opening and sawing of the logs
for the finest and most costly veneer. There are few
other industries in which quality is so flexible, or the
matter of opinion so variable. Mr. Willey's method
makes it possible to meet all requirements of the users
of forest productions of the hardwood variety.
Mr. Willey was born in Dansville, New York, in
1855. His earlier education was secured in the schools
of that town, and later he attended Duffs College at
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1871. His first
practical business experience was secured in his father's
saw and shingle mill 'at Warren, Pennsylvania, where he
worked for seven years. When he had sufficiently mas-
tered the trade to start business for himself, he moved to
Pittsburg.
Mr. Willey's home is at 4750 Grand boulevard. He
has one son, Charles B. Willey, who is now associated
with him in business. He is a member of the Union
15
League Club, the Chicago Athletic Association, the
Washington Park Club and the Builders' and Traders'
Exchange.
The John Spry Lumber Company, one of the largest
and foremost in the West, was founded in 1885
as a successor to the Gardner & Spry Lumber Company,
one of the pioneer lumber concerns of Chicago. The
company's yards which have an annual capacity of
sixty million feet are situated at Ashland avenue and
Twenty-second street, over a half mile in length, and
extending from the waterworks to the Chicago river's
south branch. The business has expanded steadily
since its inception and to-day the company's trade
extends to every part of the United States.
John Spry, the founder and for many years president
of the company, was a native of Cornwall, England,
where he was born August 3, 1828. He came to
America with his parents when a child. The Sprys
located in Chicago, and John, at the age of thirteen,
secured employment in the lumber yard of Andrew
Smith. The position was humble, but the boy acquired
a thorough knowledge of the business, which later
qualified him for one of the principal factors of the
American lumber industry. At the age of twenty-seven
SAMUEL A. SPRY.
he secured a working interest in the yard of F. B.
Gardner, and in 1866, he became an active partner,
organizing the firm of Gardner & Spry, with F. B. Gard-
ner as senior partner. In 1869 it became the Gardner
& Spry Lumber Company. When Mr. Gardner retired,
in 1885, Mr. Spry reorganized the business as the
226
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
John Spry Lumber Company, which name has since
endured.
Mr. Spry was prominent in public affairs, was one of
the early members of the Board of Trade and was a
leading Mason. After his death, which occurred in
Chicago, February 5, 1891, his sons, John C, Samuel
A. and George E. Spry, assumed control of the business.
The first named, the eldest of the three children, was
born in Chicago in 1857. After receiving an education
in the public schools and a business college, he entered
the employ of Gardner & Spry, working his way up to
the presidency, which he assumed in 1891, after the
death of his father. He was succeeded in 1900 by Sam-
uel A. Spry, who had hitherto served as vice-president,
while George E. Spry, the youngest son, who had
been secretary and treasurer, became vice-president
and treasurer.
In addition to their lumber manufacturing business
the Sprys are largely interested in pine lands. Finan-
cially they are resourceful, while they are regarded as
stimulating factors in the lumber industry.
The Reginald J. Davis Company stands at the head
of the firms in Chicago which make a specialty of high-
class interior finish work and building contracting. It
was incorporated in 1900 by Reginald J. Davis and is a
close corporation, being owned and controlled solely by
Mr. Davis, its founder. Its work is to be seen in many
of the largest and finest buildings of Chicago, among
them being the Marshall Field new retail store at
State and Randolph streets the Railway Exchange
building at Jackson boulevard and Michigan ave-
nue, the Heyworth building at \\abash avenue and
Madison street, the First National Bank building, and
in many of the finest residences in Chicago. The firm's
reputation has extended all over the country, so that it
is frequently called upon to bid upon out-of-town struc-
tures. At present it is engaged upon the contract on
the new San Francisco Chronicle building, San Fran-
cisco, California. The company has its offices at 1451
Railway Exchange building and it operates three fac-
tories in Chicago, located at 2300 to 2310 La Salle
street, 22 and 24 South Jefferson street and 2253 to
2257 Wentworth avenue.
Reginald J. Davis, the president of the company, is
known as one of the experts in the line of interior finish
in the United States. He was born August 18, 1848, in
South Wales, England, and learned his profession in
the old country, serving a long indoor apprenticeship
and perfecting himself in the many branches which have
proved so useful to him in his subsequent career. His
apprenticeship covered the technical as well as the prac-
tical side of his profession and he took the first prize
in his examination at the London Technical School,
receiving a percentage of 97 out of a possible 100. He
came to the United States in 1878 and settled in St.
Paul. He came to Chicago in 1882. and speedily forged
to the front as a contractor. His incorporation of the
firm of R. J. Davis & Company was the result of close
application to business and taking advantage of the
opportunities for fine work when Chicago took the lead
in the erection of skyscraper buildings. Mr. Davis
REGINALD J. DAVIS.
is independent in politics, is a Royal Arch Mason, a
member of the New Illinois Athletic Club and of the
Hinsdale Golf Club. He was married in the old country-
previous to coming to America, and leads a quiet life at
his home at 945 Sawyer avenue.
Arthur Nollau, of the Nollau & Wolff Manufactur-
ing Company, was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, in
1859. He is one of the best known manufacturers of
general millwork and interior finish of the Middle West.
Some of the most modern and handsome buildings in
Chicago and vicinity have been fitted with the products
of his firm. He began his successful career as a cash
boy in a Manitowoc general merchandise store, but
soon was promoted to clerk, and later to bookkeeper.
With his savings he came to Chicago in 1884 and
formed a partnership with Otto E. Wolff under the
firm name of Wolff & Nollau. Their plant is located
at 35 to 45 Fullerton avenue, covering half a block. It
has gradually increased from a small factory employing
20 men to their present capacity of 200 men. In 1900
the firm was incorporated as the Nollau & Wolff Manu-
facturing Company. The floor space of the present fac-
tory is more than 48,000 square feet, not including dry-
ing kilns, engine rooms, large lumber yards and the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
227
offices. The plant of the Nollau & Wolff Manufactur-
ing- Company is to-day considered one of the best
equipped and best located for interior finish and general
milhvork in the United States.
The new Chicago & North-Western Railway's office
building at Jackson boulevard and Franklin streets, the
Majestic theater and office building on Monroe street
ARTHUR NOLLAU.
near Dearborn street and Sears, Roebuck & Com-
pany's new plant at Hamlin and Harvard streets are
among the recent structures in which the Nollau &
Wolff Manufacturing Company furnished all the mill-
work and interior finish.
Mr. Nollau is a member of the Chicago Athletic
Association, a prominent Mason and a member of
several other organizations and fraternities.
B. F. Weber is a native Chicagoan, born January 6,
1853, at a date when the population of the City of Chi-
cago scarcely exceeded 50,000 souls. He is the son of
Michael and Anna M. Weber, pioneer settlers of the
city. He acquired a practical education in the public
schools, and in Dyrenfurth College. Upon attaining
his majority he engaged in the real estate and loan busi-
ness on his own account, having offices in the Ewing
block, and has since been interested in the business,
being the senior partner of the firm of Weber, Kransz &
Company, located since 1881 at 84 La Salle street. He
is one of the original fifty members of the Chicago
Real Estate Board, and still remains a member. In
1889 he extended his business operations to include an
interest in the Jefferson Brick Company, of which he
was the president, until the formation of the Illinois
Brick Company, which combination was effected in
April, 1900.
In 1891 he organized the Weber-Labahn Company,
of which he was president until he disposed of his inter-
est and established his own works, which for many
years was the model yard of the Illinois Brick Company,
known as Yard No. 5.
Mr. Weber was vice-president of the Illinois Brick
Company until his resignation in February of this year,
when he resigned to accept the presidency of the
National Brick Company, recently organized with a
capital of $500,000, now erecting plants at Weber Sta-
tion, Illinois, on the Chicago & North-Western Railway,
Maynard, Indiana, and Chicago Heights, Illinois.
When completed, the company will have a capacity
of 1,250,000 brick per clay, the largest output of any
establishment in this line in the world, not a trust or a
combination. The company's offices are at 84 La Salle
street.
While engaged in the brick business, Mr. Weber
did as much to develop and improve the territory
between Chicago and Evanston as any one man. As a
B. F. WEBER.
builder, he erected within the past three years over 200
first-class residences within the territory from Grace-
land avenue on the south, to, and including Rogers
Park on the north. He has improved miles of streets
with first-class paving and sidewalks and all under-
ground improvements. Many tracts of highly improved
property are the best testimonials of his efforts.
He has also built several miles of railroad extending
228
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
from Oakton avenue to Peterson avenue along the
township line between Evanston and Niles. This terri-
tory owes its appreciation in land values solely to his
efforts, being formerly one vast unimproved semi-wil-
derness. It now has large manufacturing plants employ-
ing a thousand or more people.
Mr. Weber has entirely withdrawn from public
affairs in which he formerly took considerable part,
having served in both the Thirty-second and Thirty-
third General Assemblies as representative from the
old Sixth senatorial district, which comprised all the
towns in Cook County outside of the then limits of
the City of Chicago. He also served two terms as
assessor and member of the board of trustees of the
Town of Lake View, and was elected and served two
terms in the city council, after the annexation of Lake
View to the City of Chicago in 1895. He was appointed
election commissioner by Judge Scales, which office he
subsequently resigned to accept from Governor Altgeld
a place on the Lincoln Park Board.
Mr. Weber was married October 14, 1884, to Miss
Anna M. Kransz, daughter of Nicholas Kransz, one of
the earliest settlers and prominent citizens of Lake
View. This union was blessed with seven children,
three of whom are deceased. Those living are: Clar-
ence J., Cassius M., Cressie O., and Bernard F., Jr. He
is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish, of which
he is a regular attendant, belongs to North Shore
Court, Catholic Order of Foresters, and is also a mem-
ber of the Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Weber is a member of the Ravenswood Club,
Illinois Athletic, and other social organizations.
Rudolph S. Blome, senior member of the well-known
firm of Rudolph S. Blome Company, cement paving and
concrete contractors, is one of the best examples of what
a young man possessing business ability can accomplish
in the metropolitan city of the West. The adage of
"young blood will tell" seems to be especially appro-
priate in this instance, for although only slightly more
than thirty years of age it is his energy that has been
the life of the firm ever since he became connected
with it.
Mr. Blome was borne at Monroe, Michigan, in 1871,
and after graduating from the local high school, com-
pleted his studies in the University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, following which he pursued further work at the
University of Detroit. He then came to Chicago to
become identified with Mr. Joseph Stamsen in the
cement paving business and in 1894 entered into part-
nership with him under the firm name of Stamsen &
Blome.
Upon the death, in 1896, of Mr. Stamsen, Mr. Blome
became sole proprietor of the business and later changed
the firm name to Rudolph S. Blome Company, and in
January, 1904, gave an interest to Mr. William Sinek,
who had been with the concern a number of years.
Since Mr. Blome's connection with the business this
firm has executed nearly all of the larger contracts of
cement floors and sidewalks, concrete foundations, and
other forms of concrete construction in and about Chi-
cago. The field of operations has extended as far north
as Hamilton, Canada, east to Washington, D. C.,
south to Alabama and west to Salt Lake City, and the
number of men employed increased from ninety in 1894
to as high as fourteen hundred in 1904.
Some idea of the magnitude of the operations of this
concern may be gained from the fact that during the
greater part of the season of 1904 they were at work in
RUDOLPH S. BLOME.
twenty-two cities outside of and in addition to Chicago.
Also, while the laying of cement sidewalks is but one
of the many forms of concrete work they execute, the
firm has built more cement sidewalks than any other
concern in the world, aggregating on December 31,
1904, slightly more than 26,000,000 feet.
The firm occupies large and well-appointed offices
on the bank floor of the Unity Building, 79 Dearborn
street, where all business comes under the personal
supervision of Mr. Blome. It may here be remarked
that the success and envied reputation of this firm are
partially due to the fact that they solicit and execute a
first-class and superior grade of work only, as is proven
by the vast amount of their work now in use. Mr.
Blome is, and has been for three successive terms, pres-
ident of the Chicago Concrete Contractors' Association.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
229
He is also a member of the Builders and Traders
Exchange, and the Union League, Germania Manner-
chor, Illinois, Athletic and Marquette clubs.
The Palmer House, located at State and Monroe
streets in the heart of the retail business district, main-
tains its position as one of the leading hotels of the city,
despite the fact that it was built more than thirty years
ago. Massive in size and built of the finest materials,
mere alterations have been found necessary to keep
it up to the standard of the hotels more recently erected.
conventions of various mercantile associations. With
its 781 guest rooms, the hotel ranks as one of the largest
in America.
Since the death of Potter Palmer a change has been
made in the system of management. The Chicago
Hotel Company, organized in 1904, leases and conducts
the house. Willis Howe, for many years manager of
the house, was the first president of the Chicago Hotel
Company and continued in charge of the house until
the spring of 1905. After his retirement, W. C. Vier-
PALMER HOUSE.
Within the last ten years the dining rooms have
been remodeled, an electric light plant installed and a
large laundry established in the basement. The parlors
have been redecorated frequently and many fine paint-
ings added to the collection that was already on the
walls. Only recently a new heating plant was estab-
lished in the basement and a telephone system with
wires connecting with each of the guest rooms installed.
The spacious main dining room on the parlor floor
of the hotel, famous in years gone by, is perhaps the
scene of more large banquets than any other room in
Chicago. The club rooms are also a favorite place for
buchen, for many years head clerk in the hotel, was
elected president of the Chicago Hotel Company and
manager of the house. Mr. Vierbuchen still retains
the position.
The history of the hotel is known to most Chi-
cagoans. Work on its construction was begun before
the great fire of 1871. When it was up to the first
floor it was destroyed with many of the neighboring
buildings. With renewed energy Mr. Palmer began
again the construction of one of the best and most
costly hotels in America. The hotel was completed
in the fall of 1873.
L'iiO
THE CITY Or CHICAGO.
The Auditorium Hotel opened a new era in hotel
construction in America. Until the granite pile had
been built at the northwest corner of Michigan boule-
vard and Congress street, there was not an entirely non-
combustible hotel in the country. For nearly twenty
years previous to the opening of the hotel in 1890, there
had been no advancement or improvement in hotel con-
struction in Chicago, and it was not until after that date
that the first fireproof and thoroughly modern hotel
was erected in New York City. The Auditorium was,
therefore, in a sense, the pioneer of the great, magnifi-
cent, indestructible, palatial hotels of America.
Not only was it, when first completed and opened,
regarded as the most beautiful room of its kind in the
United States, and the grand dining room on the tenth
floor which is even larger than the banquet hall, and is
also frequently used for banquets. Other dining facili-
ties of the Auditorium proper include a large restaurant
on the ground floor, and a grill room which was the
first to be opened in Chicago.
The World's Columbian Exposition made the
erection of an additional building necessary and in 1892
ground was broken at the southwest corner of Michigan
avenue and Congress street, and the construction was
begun of the hotel which has since become famous all
over the world as the Auditorium Annex. This is a
AUDITORIUM HOTELS.
a magnificent hotel far superior to anything the United
States had seen up to that time, but it contained many
other than the hotel features and some of them were of
an exceedingly important and interesting character.
The Auditorium Hotel was so named from the fact
that the building contains under the same roof with the
hotel, an auditorium for public gatherings which is, in
fact, the largest and finest opera house or theater west
of New York City. The fact that patrons of the Audi-
torium Hotel may attend the opera or other entertain-
ment in the Auditorium theater without stepping out
of doors is of such importance as to need only passing
mention.
Other features of the original Auditorium building
include a banquet hall on the sixth floor, which is
much larger hotel, so far as the number of rooms is con-
cerned, than the original Auditorium, and the entire
structure is given up to hotel purposes.
The Auditorium Annex is connected with the Audi-
torium proper by means of a white marble tunnel
directly underneath Congress street. Thus it is that
the patrons of the Auditorium Hotel, the Auditorium
Annex, the Congress Apartments, the Auditorium
Theater and Fine Arts building are easily enabled to
intermingle, passing from one great structure to the
other and enjoying all the privileges and features of
each without stepping out of doors.
So great has been the success of the Auditorium
Annex that a still further enlargement of this magnifi-
cent hotel was found necessary, and in the spring of
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
231
1902 the erection was begun of the building known as
the Congress Apartments.
The greater portion of the first floor of the new
building is given up to the Pompeiian room, which,
since its opening last autumn, has become known from
one end of the country to the other as an apartment of
surpassing grandeur and artistic beauty, the counter-
part of which has never been heretofore encountered
in hotel construction or equipment. The prominent
feature and chief attraction of this room is the celebrated
Tiffany fountain, which was on exhibition at the Pan-
American Exposition in Buffalo and was considered by
many visitors as one of its most attractive features.
The location of the Auditorium Hotel and its
annexes is superb. Facing Lake Front park, near the
northern terminus of Michigan boulevard, and over-
looking the broad expanse of Lake Michigan, its sur-
roundings and environments are such as no other hotel,
located close to the business center of a great city,
can offer.
The Congress Hotel Company has recently
acquired the two lots adjoining its property on the
south, and known as Nos. 228 and 229 Michigan
avenue. It is intended to erect on these lots a build-
ing to be operated in connection with the Annex
hotel. This building will contain about 150 guest
rooms, a magnificent banquet hall and assembly
rooms. A large portion of the first floor will be used
to enlarge and add to the present Pompeiian room.
This new building will be built on a magnificent scale,
in keeping with the Congress Hotel Company's
properties.
R. H. Southgate is president of the Congress
Hotel Company, which owns and manages the three
properties. A. G. Bullock is the vice-president and
Thomas H. Joyce, secretary and treasurer. The
board of directors consists of R. H. Southgate, J.
Frank Lawrence, G. B. Shaw, R. H. Southgate, Jr.,
J. H. Breslin, A. G. Bullock and E. H. Carmack.
R. H. Southgate is the general manager of all
the properties. W. S. Shafer is assistant manager in
charge of the Auditorium Hotel and J. E. Kennedy,
of the Annex.
The Great Northern Hotel is one of the best
equipped and most centrally located hostelries in the
city. Convenient to the business districts, both
wholesale and retail, all elevated and steam railway
stations within easy reach, and near to the theaters,
it has become the recognized headquarters of
commercial men, and popular with the traveling pub-
lic generally.
Tt is a fourteen-story fireproof structure, fronting
on Jackson boulevard, Dearborn and Quincy streets,
with 400 rooms, 250 of which have bathrooms connect-
ing. There are more rooms with connecting bathrooms
at the Great Northern than at any hotel in the city.
The hotel was opened in 1892. and the number of
guests since then have averaged 400 a day.
At the present writing, improvements costing over
$140,000 are being made throughout the house. A new
kitchen, the finest in the city, done in white tile, has
recently been completed. All employees in the kitchen
are dressed in spotless white uniforms, giving a general
aspect of cleanliness not generally met with in the
kitchens of big hotels and restaurants. The hotel is run
strictly on the European plan. A cafe on the parlor
floor and a grill room in the basement furnish ample
accommodations for those guests who wish to take
advantage of the excellent cuisine of the Great North-
ern. A banquet hall on the parlor floor has recently
been opened.
GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL.
232
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Besides the usual equipment of the modern hotel,
every room in the Great Northern is equipped with a
long distance telephone, an advantage which only a
few other hotels in the city have. What is said to be
the finest and most complete barber shop in the country,
MAJESTIC HOTEL.
a system of compressed air cleaning throughout the
house, and an $18,000 ^Eolian organ in the lobby on
which nightly concerts are given, are but a few of the
features which attract the wayfarer to the Great
Northern.
The basement of the hotel presents a busy scene,
where new boilers and an improved system of heating
are being installed. A new electric light plant has
recently been finished.
Hotel Majestic is located in Ouincy street, between
State and Dearborn streets, 150 feet from the main
Dearborn street entrance of the new Chicago postoffice.
The hotel is a model steel structure and absolutely fire-
proof. Built in the form of a quadrangle with halls
running lengthwise, every room is an outside room,
insuring fresh air and sunshine to every patron. All
the bathrooms are beautifully finished with tile and
furnished with porcelain bath tubs, marble wash stands
and nickel trimmings. Each room is provided with a
long distance telephone, is steam heated, lighted by
electricity and furnished with hot and cold water taps.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Hotel Majestic is
one of the most desirable of Chicago's down-town
hotels. The 200 rooms are unexcelled in Chicago for
size and elegance of appointments, light, ventilation
and general desirability. The rates at this hotel are
extremely reasonable considering the nature and quality
of the accommodations provided. At the top of the
house there is one of the most beautiful restaurants in
Chicago, St. Hubert's Inn. Situated as it is on the
seventeenth floor, it affords the visitor a splendid view
of Chicago, Lake Michigan and the surrounding
country.
Hotel Majestic is adjacent to the great down-town
shopping district. All street car lines pass within one
to three blocks and the Board of Trade, Stock
Exchange, banks, large office buildings, and the main
jobbing houses of Chicago are within easy walking
distance, making it one of the most desirable hotels in
Chicago for patrons to whom time is a valuable con-
sideration.
A modern compressed air vacuum system of dust-
less cleaning is used at the Majestic. It has a sta-
tionary air-compressing plant in its basement, with
standpipes connecting all floors. By this method all the
rooms in the hotel are kept sweet and clean and sani-
tary. All the carpets, rugs, draperies, upholstered fur-
niture, pillows, mattresses, etc., are renovated and
cleaned with the compressed air vacuum system.
"Fresh Air" is the motto of the Majestic. The perfect
ventilation of every room is further enhanced by the use
of pure atmosphere in removing all dust and microbes,
producing a sanitary condition that can be attained in
no other manner.
CHAPTER XXIV.
PROMINENT MEN, PAST AND PRESENT.
YRUS HALL McCORMICK, in-
ventor, manufacturer and benefac-
tor, was born February 15, 1809, at
Walnut Grove, Rockbridge County,
Virginia. The surroundings of his
early life were extremely pic-
turesque, the Blue Ridge towering
above the valley to the east, the
Alleghanies not far away on the
west, and the valley itself presenting
a panorama of fields and waving
grain, interspersed with streams, hills and
comfortable homes. Such environment, and the
inherited genius of his father, together with the prac-
tical ability of his mother, all combined to fit him for
his life task.
His father, Robert McCormick, was a farmer,
possessing one thousand eight hundred acres of excel-
lent land, upon which he operated, in the patriarchal
fashion of the South, a number of industries, including
a flour mill and saw mill, and a carpenter and blacksmith
shop. Characterized by tireless industry and imbued
with mechanical talent, he invented a number of devices
to simplify the labors of the farm, including a hemp
break, a threshing machine and a tub-shaped bellows toi
the blacksmith shop. The idea of constructing a reap-
ing machine as a means of saving much of the heavy
work and time consumed in harvest had engaged his
attention for many years. In 1816 he made a crude ma-
chine in his own shop, in which he sought to obtain his
object by means of a row of upright cylinders, armed
with sickle blades, rotating against a stationary cutting
edge. The several stalks fell on leather straps, which
carried them to one side and threw them on the ground.
The contrivance illustrated the inventor's ingenuity, but
was not operative, and after another unsuccessful trial in
1831 it was abandoned.
The son, Cyrus H. McCormick, who had gained
partly by inheritance, partly by practice, a love for the
mechanical arts, watched his father's experiments and
mechanical work in many lines with a boy's interest. He
attended an old field school every winter, and in the
open months of the year learned, by his own experience
in the work of the farm, the importance of a machine
which would relieve the husbandman of his heaviest toil
in harvest time.
At the age of fifteen he constructed an ingenious,
light and symmetrical grain cradle, which enabled him
to keep pace in reaping with the workmen.
In 1831 he patented a hillside plow, to throw a fur-
row alternately to the right and left, and in 1833 another
improved plow, which he called "self-sharpening."
The father's experimental reaping machine, laid by,
was a familiar object to young Cyrus in his early years,
as he has often said. In 1831 Cyrus H. McCormick,
filled with the idea of a successful reaper, conceived a
machine upon an entirely different plan, and with re-
markable energy constructed it and tried it in the field
during that harvest. The operation was successful and
the machine thus brought forth, by meeting the difficul-
ties which had baffled previous efforts, determined the
line of future development of harvesting machinery.
So well had he wrought that the essential features of the
first reaper have never been departed from. The inventor
used in this machine the vibrating blade, operating in
fingers, or supports, to the grain being cut, a principle
which has been retained throughout the development of
the reaper. The platform for receiving the cut grain
after it had been severed by the cutting apparatus, and
from which it was raked to the side in gavels, ready to
bind, remains the same in principle to-day. The neces-
sity for the reel to bring the standing grain to the knife,
and finally incline it upon the platform, was also recog-
nized in this first machine. The divider also was made
233
234
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
a part of this machine, to meet the difficulty found in
separating effectively the grain which was cut from that
left standing. The construction upon two wheels, like a
cart, thus avoiding the awkwardness of some previous
attempts, has been preserved, as well as the concentra-
tion of most of the weight of the machine upon the
driving wheel, a feature which is readily seen by the
practical man to be important.
Much thought and repeated improvements during
the first twenty years had combined to produce a
machine that, when exhibited at the World's Fair in
London, in 1851, astonished the world and saved the
American exhibit from being regarded as commonplace,
although the London Times had ridiculed the McCor-
CYRUS HALL McCORMICK.
mick reaper before the exhibition as a "cross between
an Astley (circus) chariot, a wheelbarrow and a flying
machine." It was compelled to acknowledge, after a
test had been made in the fields, that this machine was
"worth to the farmers of England the whole cost of the
exhibition." Writing of this glorious success, Honor-
able William H. Seward said: "So the reaper of 1831,
as improved in 1845, achieved for its inventor a triumph
which all then felt and acknowledged was not more
a personal one than it was a national one. It was justly
so regarded. No general or consul, drawn in a chariot
through the streets of Rome by order of the Senate,
ever conferred upon mankind benefits so great as he
who thus vindicated the genius of our country at the
World's Exhibition of Art in the 'Metropolis of the
British Empire in 1851."
Important improvements were added to Mr. McCor-
mick's machines, and they constantly led in the race to
produce the best machines for reaping the great harvests
of the world. The raker and driver had been given
seats on the machine by 1847, and the one was relieved
of the drudgery of walking and the other of riding a
horse. In 1858 experiments were made with the self-
rake of McClintock Young, and machines with this
invention were put upon the market in 1860. Scylla &
Adams had in 1853 conceived the idea of making a
machine upon which the binders could ride. Marsh
Brothers further improved this in 1858. and Mr. McCor-
mick had such a machine on the market in 1873, but
not much was done with this, for he had experimented
with a wire binder in 1872, and had such harvesters
ready to sell in 1875. The twine binder was already
planned, and he began to supply them to the trade
in 1881.
When Mr. McCormick thus saw the modern machine
develop from his original invention, he built up a manu-
facturing business for the introduction of his reaper
to the markets of the world, and thus guided its subse-
quent development to meet the demands of each
successive period. He had the satisfaction of developing
in this manner the largest business of its kind in the
world. In nearly every national and international exhi-
bition of the century, Mr. McCormick's reaper was
awarded the first honor, and he himself was the recipient
of many marks of distinction. From the first machine of
1831 up to the latest Right-hand Automatic Binder
of 1900, there has been a. gradual evolution in the
McCormick machines, so natural, so important and so
far-reaching in their benefits to bread winners, as to
place his name high on the roll of the illustrious men of
our land. But his life-work would not be adequately
apprehended if we should stop here. He was a philan-
thropist and benefactor as well. In 1859 ne proposed to
the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to
endow, with $100,000 the professorships of a theological
seminary, to be established in Chicago. This was done,
and during his life-time he gave about half a million
dollars to this institution, the Presbyterian Theological
Seminary of the Northwest, now McCormick Theolog-
ical Seminary. The McCormick professorship of natural
philosophy in Washington and Lee University of Vir-
ginia, and gifts to the Union Theological Seminary at
Hampden-Sidney, and to other colleges under Presby-
terian influence, also attest his solicitude for the church
in which he had been reared, and of which he had been
a member since 1834. In 1872 he came to the aid of
the struggling organ of the Presbyterian Church in the
Northwest, The Interior, and used it to foster union
between the old and the new schools in the church, and
to aid in harmonizing the Presbyterian Church in the
Northwest. Under his care and advice The Interior
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
235
grew to be a mighty voice, expressing the convictions,
the aspirations and hopes of a great church.
In 1858 Mr. McCormick was married to Miss Nettie
Fowler, a daughter of Melzar Fowler of Jefferson
County, New York. Seven children were born to them,
of whom five are yet living. Mr. McCormick died May
13, 1884, in Chicago, leaving an honored name to
his family.
Potter Palmer is one of the best known names in
Chicago. So closely was Mr. Palmer identified with
the early growth and development of the city that there
is hardly a landmark in it that does not bear his signet.
For fifty years he was a conspicuous figure in the his-
tory of the city and its leading commercial character.
He was born in Albany County, New York, May 20,
1826, the son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Potter) Pal-
mer. He was a descendant of Walter Palmer who was
a companion of John Endicott, colonial governor of
Massachusetts, 1629, who later settled at Wequete-
quock, Connecticut, the scene of present day re-unions
of the Palmer family. Mr. Potter's early ancestors in
America were attracted to the sea. Many of them were
established at New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they
were engaged in foreign commerce. Three members
of the family were lost at sea in one year and this so
shocked the others that they abandoned the sea. The
direct ancestors of Potter Palmer moved from New
Bedford to Albany County, New York, in the early
part of the nineteenth century, where they became
prominently connected with the affairs of a growing
community. Benjamin Palmer, father of Potter Pal-
mer, engaged in stock raising, and at one time owned
three large stock farms. He married Rebecca Potter,
daughter of Samuel and Deborah (Ricketson) Potter.
Potter Palmer, the fourth son of this marriage,
lived with his parents until he was seventeen years old,
when he left home for the purpose of learning the ways
of commerce with his father's promise that as soon as
he demonstrated his ability he would supply him with
the needed capital to start him in business. His first
work was as a clerk in a country store, postoffice and
bank at Durham, New York. Here his abilities won
speedy recognition and at the end of two years he was
given entire charge of the establishment.
Shortly thereafter he started a dry goods store
in Oneida, New York, which he later disposed of to
open a larger one in Lockport. He chafed under the
stagnancy of small towns and the limit on his capacities,
and he determined to seek a larger field for his efforts.
He first thought of going to New York, but the won-
derful progress then being made in the Middle West
attracted him and after a visit to Chicago in 1852 he
decided to move here and establish himself as a dry
goods merchant. After selling out his business in
Lockport and adding the capital given him by his
father, he purchased a stock of goods in New York
and opened an establishment in Lake street, which was
the foundation of the immense fortune he amassed and
the cornerstone of the business integrity of the city.
His store prospered and the name of Potter Palmer
became known throughout all the territory tributary
to Chicago, and was a synonym for honesty and fair
dealing everywhere. His business was founded upon
his known insistence upon generous dealing and full
value in return for the money of customers.
Many innovations in the business of retailing dry
goods were inaugurated by the young merchant, and
though they were bitterly opposed by his competitors
POTTER PALMER.
all of them have since been adopted and though they
worked a revolution of the business modern retail dry
goods merchants the world over acknowledge the wis-
dom of them.
Mr. Palmer was the first to start the bargain day.
He was the first to set aside certain days for the sale
of certain articles. He was the first to adopt the plan
of exchanging goods or refunding money to customers
who were not satisfied. He was the first to start the
general and extensive advertising that is now a feature
of all retail dry goods houses. He was the first to
arrange show windows and dress and decorate them.
He was the first to inaugurate the system of delivering
goods to the homes of customers.
These innovations rapidly drew trade to his store
and while his competitors opposed him they were one
by one compelled to follow. Under this plan of deal-
236
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
ing the Potter Palmer establishment soon became
known as the largest of its kind in the northwest
country and the mere association of the name of the
firm with the name of the city resulted in a greater
confidence being placed in the plans proposed by the
growing metropolis of the West and contributed in
itself largely to the development of the place. The
head of the firm of Macy & Company of New York,
heard of the business plans of the young Chicagoan
and a special agent was sent to Chicago to study them.
On his return the New York house immediately adopted
them and after a few years the same plans were being
put into practice in London, Paris and Berlin.
Through all Mr. Palmer's career he never had a
business partner. All his work was accomplished alone
and it stands a monument to himself. The arduous
labors spent in the building up of his business and in
helping the city generally on its road of progress told
on the remarkable abilities in the end, however. The
physical and mental structures were not able to with-
stand the strain, and in 1867, on the advice of phy-
sicians, Mr. Palmer gave up his business and devoted
several years to rest and travel.
The business he had built up was turned over to
Marshall Field and Levi Z. Leiter, and, in order that
they might begin where he left off, under the most aus-
picious circumstances, the retiring founder of the firm
left them his name and part of his capital. For several
years the business was conducted under the old title,
or until they were able with their own resources to con-
trol the business.
After nearly three years spent in travel Mr. Palmer
returned to Chicago, bettered in health and eager to
get into the world of affairs once again. Still acting
under the advice of his physicians, he decided he would
not take up the more confining and arduous labor of his
old business, and he determined to turn his millions
into real estate. It was this decision that has resulted
in a greater good to Chicago than the decision of any
other one man.
State street then was a narrow, ill-kept and
unsightly thoroughfare. The main street of the city
was Lake street. As his far-seeing judgment told
him the best foundation upon which to build his dry
goods business, an equal prescience told him that if
Chicago was to grow ,its main thoroughfare must run
parallel with the Lake Front, and he set about the task
of turning the tide of the city's business from east and
west to north and south. He bought the land on either
side of State street for more than a mile, fought through
the city council a bill widening the street twenty feet
and providing for its paving, and he then used his sur-
plus capital in erecting one after another the finest com-
mercial buildings the city had then seen. The irregular,
poorly-built structures gave way to the handsome new
buildings, the narrow ill-drained street was widened
into the State street of to-day, and as if by magic the
commercial enterprises on Lake street turned to the
new thoroughfare and in the space of a few years the
whole tide of the city's business had been turned into
a new and better channel.
Then came the fire of 1871, and the flames swept
out the patient work of years. When the fire had at
last been extinguished the general scene of devastation
seemed to spell ruin for the man whose millions had
been swept away as well as for the city itself. With
equal courage, however, the man and the city turned
to the work of rebuilding. Though the fire had
destroyed in all thirty-two buildings belonging to Mr.
Palmer, his credit enabled him to borrow $1,700,000
from the Mutual Life Insurance Company of Connecti-
cut, the largest sum that had till then been loaned by
that company, and with his new capital he set about
building even finer structures in the place of those
destroyed. The State street of to-day speaks eloquently
of his success.
The turning thus of the entire life of a city was not
the only achievement of the man. After he had accom-
plished that he spent thousands of dollars in the pur-
chase of the then waste and swamp lands north of Chi-
cago avenue and east of Rush street. In a few years
he had turned the swamps and sand dunes into the most
valuable property district in the city. It bordered the
Lake Front and was bounded on the north by Lincoln
Park and to the south abutted the expanding business
district of the city. The Lake Front was parked and
inside it the beautiful Lake Shore Drive was laid out
and the homes of Chicago's wealthiest and most exclu-
sive now border it, facing the lake and looking upon
the same scene toward which Mr. Palmer faced his own
magnificent residence, almost midway between the ends
of the fashionable driveway.
In 1871 Mr. Palmer married Bertha, daughter of
Henry H. Honore, a prominent capitalist and real estate
holder of Chicago. Through all his efforts in the build-
ing up of the city she was his constant aid and it was
largely through her encouragement that the hard days
following the fire were safely bridged. By his mar-
riage he had two sons, Honore and Potter Palmer,
who have both risen to prominence in the life of the
city.
During his long years there were few projects of
worth that did not receive his support, and that sup-
port was usually material. He was an incorporator
of the Chamber of Commerce, an early member of the
Chicago Library Association and one of the first sub-
scribers to the Chicago May festivals. He was one of
the three founders of the Chicago Interstate Industrial
Exposition and vice-president and director of the
World's Columbian Exposition, to which he contrib-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
237
utect both time and money and through his efforts it
was crowned with success. Mrs. Palmer was chief of
the Women's Commission of the fair and contributed
largely to the success of the enterprise.
Though he was always keenly interested in matters
of public welfare and took an active part in them when
it was for the interest of Chicago, he did not care for
the distinction which comes from holding public office.
He preferred the pleasure of accomplishment more than
the honor of mere position. In 1870 he declined the
Interior portfolio in President Grant's cabinet. On
many other occasions he was offered positions of politi-
cal honor, but he declined them all. His one position
that might be called political was as commissioner of
the South Park board. That he accepted in order that
he might be instrumental in beautifying the south end
of the city by laying out a splendid boulevard system
in that section of the town. The result of his work
speaks for itself. It was largely through his efforts that
Chicago can now boast of the finest park system in
the world, and in the most complete boulevard system
connecting all the parks in a continuous driveway.
No man ever worked more for the joy of working
and less for self-aggrandizement. He died in Chicago,
May 4, 1902.
Philip Danforth Armour, son of Danforth and Juli-
anna (Brooks) Armour, was born at Stockbridge, Mad-
ison County, New York, May 16, 1832. His parents,
who were farmers, gave their family of six boys and two
girls such educational advantages as were to be
obtained in the near-by country schools, and some of the
children also attended a neighboring village seminary.
Among them was Philip, and many anecdotes have
been told of his boyish pranks while a student at that
institution.
During the winter of 1851-52, Mr. Armour was
one of a small party that succumbed to the California
gold craze, and in the early spring of 1852 this band
of goldseekers began their journey toward the far
West. Six months later they reached their destina-
tion, having traveled by the overland route, and encoun-
tering all the hardships incident to making the trip in
this manner.
Mr. Armour returned to the East in 1856, after
having had a varied experience in mining enterprises,
and it was conjectured at the time that he brought
back with him considerable of the golden dust, but
the facts of this interesting matter are known only to
himself. He devoted a few weeks to visiting his parents,
after which he again started West, this time locating in
Milwaukee. Here he formed a partnership with Fred-
erick B. Miles in the commission business. This firm
continued until 1863, when Mr. Armour became asso-
ciated with John Plankinton in the pork-packing
industry. This venture was probably the turning point
in Mr. Armour's career, since Mr. Plankinton had for
many years been connected with Frederick Layton, one
of Milwaukee's pioneer residents, and not only stood
high and commanded the respect of the citizens of Mil-
waukee, but had also built up an industry of no. small
magnitude. This partnership enjoyed a thriving busi-
ness, and the fluctuations in the price of provisions at
the close of the war left the firm a fortune.
Mr. Armour's brother, Herman O. Armour, had
established himself in Chicago in 1862 in the grain com-
mission business, but three years later he was induced
to surrender his interests here to a younger brother,
Joseph F. Armour, and take charge of a new firm in
PHILIP DANFORTH ARMOUR.
New York, under the name of Armour, Plankinton &
Company. The firm name of H. O. Armour & Company
was continued in Chicago, however, until 1870. They
continued to handle grain, and commenced packing
hogs in 1868. This part of the business, however, was
conducted under the firm name of Armour & Company,
and in 1870 the firm of Armour & Company assumed
all the business transacted at Chicago.
In 1871, in order to keep abreast of the demands of
the market, the firm of Plankinton & Armour was
established at Kansas City, under the charge of Simeon
B. Armour, and in 1875 Philip D. Armour came to
Chicago, where he resided until his death, January 6,
1901. Mr. Armour gave largely of his wealth to various
charitable and educational institutions, to say nothing
of his numerous gifts toward other worthy enterprises,
and the various other endowments of which no public
238
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
mention has been made. In 1881, upon the death of
his brother, Joseph F. Armour, he was given charge of
a trust of $100,000, with which to found an institution
whose purpose should be to reach the people with the
teachings and influences of the gospel of Christ, and to
insure the care and development of the children and
youth of that part of Chicago where it should be located.
Mr. Armour took his brother's bequest as a suggestion,
and his benefaction has multiplied the amount many
times, his own gift reaching the sum of two millions
of dollars. The result has been, not only the building
of the Armour Mission, but the Armour flats, and later
the Armour Institute, the public being made aware of
the latter gift on Christmas Eve, 1892.
Mr. Armour was married at Cincinnati in 1862 to
Miss Belle Ogden, daughter of Jonathan Ogden. Two
sons have been born to them, Jonathan Ogden Armour
and Philip D. Armour, Jr., who died January, 1900.
Gustavus Franklin Swift was born June 24, 1839,
at Sandwich, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and died in
Chicago, March 29, 1903, at the age of sixty-three.
Mr. Swift was one of eight sons in a family of twelve
children. His parents were plain New England people,
his father being a farmer, the boys working on the farm
in their younger days. Feeling that his father's farm
was not capable of supporting the entire family, Gus-
tavus F. Swift determined to branch out into some
other occupation and obtained employment with the
town butcher at Sandwich. Having acquired a knowl-
edge of butchering, he decided after a few years to go
into the business for himself and started with a peddling
wagon, selling from house to house. He afterwards
moved to Barnstable. Massachusetts, where he con-
tinued his business and established a small slaughter
house.
On January 3, 1861, Mr. Swift was married to Annie
M. Higgins, and continued to reside at Barnstable until
1869, when he moved to Brighton, Massachusetts, a
suburb of Boston, which was then the principal live
stock market of New England.
Shortly after his arrival in Brighton, he entered the
employ of J. A. Hathaway, subsequently becoming a
partner under the firm name of Hathaway & Swift.
They bought cattle in Albany and Buffalo and shipped
the animals to Brighton, Mr. Swift visiting the cattle
markets and making most of the purchases.
It was about this time that Chicago began to
attract attention as a live stock center and Mr. Swift
bought cattle in Chicago for eastern shipment to his
firm. In 1875 he moved his family to Chicago and the
partnership with Mr. Hathaway was dissolved, Mr.
Swift going into business under the firm name of Swift
Bros. & Co.
During the year 1877 Mr. Swift started to slaughter
cattle in the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, and in the
winter of that year he first shipped dressed beef from
Chicago to eastern markets, using ordinary box cars for
the railroad journey. The idea was at first considered
impracticable, but as the result proved profitable, ship-
ments were continued until the refrigerator car finally
solved the problem of transporting fresh meat over long
distances. From this time the business increased rap-
idly and the firm prospered.
In 1885 Swift & Company was incorporated with
$300,000 capital and Mr. Swift elected president, the
corporation taking over the business of Swift Bros.
GUSTAVUS FRANKLIN SWIFT.
& Co. In 1905 the company had a capital of $35,-
000,000 and had over 25,000 employees on its payroll.
Mr. Swift made it a rule to keep in close touch with
all branches of his business and was familiar with every
detail of it. He was a firm believer in quality and
constantly aimed to produce the best in all the varied
products manufactured by the modern packing house.
The exceptional growth of Swift & Company can
be directly traced to the successful management and
rare executive ability of the man who conducted its
affairs from its inception until within a few clays of his
death in 1903. He was always enthusiastic about his
business and had the faculty of instilling that enthu-
siasm into his associates and employees. He was a man
typical of his time and was quick to see the advantage
of any new idea which could be applied to the packing
industry. The continual development of scientific
methods for the handling of by-products, of economy
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
239
in operation and of mechanical refrigeration were all
factors contributing- to the success of the Swift business
and he who was ever on the alert to further the interests
of the company took the greatest personal pride in its
expansion and progress.
It is perhaps worthy of remark that his success was
won by strictly business methods. He was not a specu-
lator, although there was no keener judge of market
conditions and no one knew better than he the trend
of trade affairs.
Among his employees he was as plain and matter-of-
fact as when he was comparatively poor. Many of the
men who had been employed under him for years, he
knew intimately and he was familiar with the names
of scores.
Outside of his business his whole life interest was
centered in his home and his church. His home life
was ideal and he left behind him a family consisting
of his widow; two daughters and seven sons. His
eldest son, Louis F. Swift, is now president of the com-
pany, and Edward F. Swift is vice-president, and all of
the other sons, with the exception of the youngest, are
connected with the company.
Mr. Swift's charities were numerous, but little was
heard of his gifts, as he was much opposed to having
such matters made public. Many educational. institu-
tions and scores of struggling churches all over the
country were constant recipients from his thoughtful
and kindly purse.
Coming to Chicago at a time when that city was
on the threshold of its commercial glory, Gustavus
Franklin Swift foresaw the many opportunities lying
before him and the vast work he constructed and per-
fected is a fitting monument to his greatness.
Philip F. W. Peck came to Chicago in 1830, when
the city was nothing but a frontier post, known as Fort
Dearborn. He came by sailing vessel from Buffalo
and brought with him from the East a stock of goods,
proposing to locate here or continue south. The natu-
ral advantages of this point, however, and the future
which he foresaw for it, induced him to decide upon
remaining.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1809, Mr.
Peck had been brought up in New England, which had
been the home of several generations of his ancestors,
the American progenitor of the family having immi-
grated to that region from England some time before
the middle of the seventeenth century. His educational
and industrial training had been of that practical kind
which the men who became pioneers in building up
western trade and commerce had generally received.
He grew to manhood with correct habits, a capacity
for close application to business, and a comprehensive
knowledge of the principles which govern the building-
up of centers of commercial activity. He was ambi-
tious, enterprising and self-reliant, and, as his subse-
quent career demonstrated, had a genius for finance,
and was possessed of unusual business foresight.
He came to Chicago with, or perhaps shortly before,
Captain Joseph Napier, founder of the town of Naper-
ville — at one time the county seat of DuPage County —
and was for a short time associated with the latter in
business. His first merchandising operations in Chi-
cago were carried on in a small log building, which he
erected near old Fort Dearborn, in 1831, and which he
occupied until the fall of the same year.
At that time he had completed — or at least had got
in fit condition for occupancy — a two-story frame
PHILIP F. W. PECK.
building, located at what is now the southeast corner
of South Water and La Salle streets, into which he
moved his stock of goods. But one frame building had
been erected in Chicago prior to that time, and Mr.
Peck's building was, in fact, the first of this character
to be used as a "store building." The land upon which
this building was located is still owned by members of
his family.
It was in the unfinished second story of this building
that the first Sunday-school organized in Chicago held
some of its earliest meetings, and in which also the
Rev. Jeremiah Porter, the first minister, to hold regular
religious services in the town, established his study and
found a lodging place. It was in this — for that time —
superior structure, too, that Mr. Peck laid the founda-
tion of a fortune, which has since been developed into a
rich estate. Here he carried on the business of mer-
240
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
chandizing until such time as it became necessary for
him to give his whole attention to his realty interests
and the care of his growing fortune.
A resident of Chicago two years before it had
a recognized corporate or municipal existence, Mr.
Peck was a pioneer of the pioneers. He was one of the
volunteers who went out from the straggling settle-
ment around Fort Dearborn to aid in suppressing the
famous Indian chief, Black Hawk, in 1832, and he
helped to organize the settlement into a town in 1833.
He was a member of the first fire company organized in
Chicago and a voter at the first city election. The first
brick dwelling erected in the city — at the corner of
Washington and La Salle streets — was built by Mr.
Peck as a residence in 1836, and the site is also still
owned in the family. He was "in at the birth" of the
town, witnessed the transition from town to village,
from village to city, and from a provincial city to the
great metropolis of the Northwest, and, two weeks be-
fore his death, which resulted from an accident and
occurred on the 23d of October, 1871, he saw the city
that had sprung up under his observation practically
swept out of existence by the great fire of that year.
Such are not the experiences of an ordinary lifetime.
The accumulator of a large fortune, Mr. Peck dem-
onstrated that adherence to approved and conservative
business methods builds up more substantial estates
than those which result from speculative enterprises. A
sagacious and far-seeing man, who had always great
confidence in the continued growth and prosperity of
Chicago, he was never carried away by the speculative
excitements which swept over the city from time to
time, to be followed by corresponding periods of busi-
ness depression and financial distress. His own affairs
were kept so well in hand that he passed safely through
financial crises like those of 1837 and "857, when many
of his contemporaries met with reverses from which
they never recovered.
These periods of general business depression did not
weaken even temporarily his faith in the ultimate
growth and prosperity of Chicago, but rather had the
effect of stirndlating him to make investments at the
more advantageous terms offered under such circum-
stances. His conservatism was such that he met with
no reverses of consequence during his business career,
and his fortune grew steadily from the date of his com-
ing to Chicago to that of his death.
In 1835 he was married to Miss Mary K. Wythe, a
Philadelphia lady, of English parentage, a niece of the
celebrated Baptist divine, Dr. Staughton of Phila-
delphia. She died in 1899. Their family consisted of
eight children, all of whom were born in this city. Four
of them died in infancy, and one of the sons, Harold
S. Peck, died some years since. The other sons, Wal-
ter L., Clarence I. and Ferdinand W. Peck, are all
leading citizens of Chicago, which they have greatly
benefited by their enterprise and public spirit. The
latter has become widely known through various public
institutions with which he has been prominently con-
nected and the public-spirited enterprises which he has
projected. He was one of the founders of the Illinois
Humane Society and also of the Chicago Athenaeum,
of which he is the president, and the vice-president and
chairman of the Finance Committee and one of the
directors of the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
He conceived the idea of the renowned Auditorium
building, containing a vast auditorium hall, a hotel and
other features, organized the company for its erection,
and, as its president, carried it through to completion
and successful operation.
This great building is to-day the pride of Chicago,
an object almost, if not quite, as conspicuous among
the splendid structures by which it is surrounded as
was the framed store building built by the elder Peck
among the log shanties of Chicago seventy-four years
ago. He was also commissioner-general of the Paris
exposition of 1900, appointed by President McKinley.
David R. Fraser, deceased, was born at Berwick-on-
the-Tweed, Scotland, on May 18, 1824. He came to
this country in 1848, and obtained employment in a
machine shop in Pittsburg. That same year he
removed to Chicago, entering the 'ehiploy of Gates &
Hoag, later Gates & McKnight. One of his fellow
employees was Thomas Chalmers, with whom he created
the firm of Fraser & Chalmers twenty-three years later.
In 1850 Mr. Fraser was struck by the gold craze that
swept the country and crossed the plains to California,
but fever and ague drove him back, he returning by
way of Panama.
In 1852 he returned to California, where he secured
a position in a machine shop, but the climate did not
agree with him, and he returned to Chicago, becoming
foreman in the locomotive works of Scoville & Sons,
which stood on the site now occupied by the Union
depot at Canal and Adams streets. He superintended the
construction of the first locomotive ever built in Chi-
cago, and personally ran it over the plank road on Canal
street up to Kinzie street, delivering it to the old Galena
& Chicago Railroad. In 1854, when the Scoville
works shut down, Mr. Fraser became associated with P.
W. Gates & Co., where he built engines by contract.
He served as foreman until 1857, when he became a
partner of the firm. Later on he aided in organizing
the Eagle Works Manufacturing Company at the corner
of Canal and Washington streets. Both he and Mr.
Chalmers were stockholders and superintendents in this
enterprise. After the fire in 1871 the business \vas aban-
doned and the firm of Fraser & Chalmers established.
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
241
It retained its name until 1890, when it was purchased
by an English syndicate.
In 1890 Mr. Fraser went to England and erected
the English works of Fraser & Chalmers, Ltd., at Frith
on the Thames, a short distance from London. He
remained there for three years, until the works were
completed, except for an occasional trip to Chicago to
DAVID R. FRASER.
assume charge of the local factory when it was deluged
with orders for mining machinery. His executive ability
in shop management was remarkable ; it alone enabled
the firm to meet its orders. He retired from active busi-
ness in 1893, though he was vice-president and largest
stockholder of the Chicago Portland Cement Company,
of which his son, Norman D. Fraser, is president. On
May 29, Mr. Fraser was stricken with apoplexy, and
after twenty-four hours of unconsciousness he suc-
cumbed, at the ripe age of eighty.
He was married in November, 1851, to Miss Lydia
H. Scoville. Three children were born to them : Airs.
E. F. Minor, Mrs. W. F. Main and Norman D. Fraser.
Their golden wedding was celebrated in November,
1901, on which occasion they were surrounded by their
children and grandchildren. Mr. Fraser, as a mechan-
ical engineer and inventor, occupied a front rank
in America. He invented many devices and contributed
very largely to the development of modern mining
machinery. He was a man of winning personality, his
generosity arid kindness extending down to his dealings
with his humblest employees.
Joseph Edward Otis, capitalist and real estate owner,
was born in Berlin. Erie County, Ohio, April 30, 1830,
16
the son of Joseph and Nancy (Billings) Otis. After
receiving a common school education in his native town
he took a three years' academic course in the Huron
Institute, at Milan, Ohio. At the age of twenty-one
he was appointed postmaster of Berlin, serving in that
capacity until 1855, when he became cashier of the
Milan Bank. Shortly afterwards he acquired a half
interest in the institution by purchase, but the business
was brought to a close in 1862. Through his connec-
tion with the bank he came into possession of several
vessels on the Great Lakes, so he removed to Chicago,
in 1860, to assume charge of them. The boats were
used for shipping grain to Buffalo and Oswego, New
York, and bringing back coal, from Erie and Cleveland.
In those days shipping rates were high and the business
was profitable, the coal cargoes yielding large profits
in Chicago. The firm was dissolved in 1865, owing to
the death of one of the partners.
About this time Mr. Otis began to recognize the
possibilities of future growth for Chicago, in a commer-
cial and business way, and selected this city as a field for
investment. In 1868, in connection with Matthew
Laflin, John V. Farwell, P. Willard, James Woodworth
JOSEPH EDWARD OTIS.
and others, he organized the Chicago Fire Insurance
Company, which was chartered under the state laws
with a capital of $100,000. He was chosen president of
the board of directors, serving in this capacity for three
years. In 1870 he was elected alderman from the Second
ward, on the Republican ticket. During his term of
office he was on the finance committee and the com-
mittee on streets and alleys for the South Side. He
'2-1-2
TIlll CITY OF CHICAGO.
retired from active business a number of years ago,
spending much of his time abroad, though he still
devoted some time to his large real estate interests,
located largely in the down-town district. Mr. Otis
visited nearly every civilized land on the globe, achiev-
ing quite a reputation as a traveler. In 1888 he visited
Egypt, spending an entire year there to study the
antiquities of that country. He made a trip around the
world in 1894. He was especially interested in Cuba,
where he made an extensive study of that island's con-
ditions aiid industries. He was making a trip through
the West Indies in the spring of 1898, at the time the
Maine was destroyed in the harbor of Havana. In the
winter of 1901-1902 he contracted a fatal illness which
extended over a period of several months, his death
occurring on March 9, 1902.
Mr. Otis was married to Miss Ellen Marie Taylor,
daughter of Judge S. F. and Judith (Kellogg) Taylor,
of Milan, Ohio. Four children survive them, Joseph
E. Otis, Jr., Ralph C. Otis, Mrs. J. E. Jenkins and Mrs.
H. YY. Buckingham.
Thomas H. Wickes, late vice-president of The Pull-
man Company, devoted the best part of a lifetime to the
organization and development of that great corporation.
THOMAS H. WICKES.
He was born in Leicestershire, England, August 28,
1846, and died suddenly in Chicago, March 28, 1905.
On April i, 1868, he entered the railway service in
the position of an assistant to the agent of the Pullman
Palace Car Company. From April, 1868 to 1870 he
held this place in the East St. Louis offices of the com-
pany. In the latter year he was advanced to an assistant
superintendent, and in May, 1873, he became superin-
tendent of the St. Louis division. He filled this posi-
tion, making his headquarters in St. Louis, for the next
twelve years.
In May, 1885, his headquarters were transferred
to Chicago, and he was made western general superin-
tendent. He was promoted to the responsible position
of general superintendent of the company in September
of the following year. On New Year's day, 1889, he
was elected second vice-president of the company and
took control of the operating department. He was
elected first vice-president, October 15, 1896, and con-
tinued in this office when the corporation was reorgan-
ized as The Pullman Company. Mr. Wickes held this
position at the time of his death.
He was interested financially in numerous other
ventures and took an active part in affairs of the day,
but The Pullman Company was the only corporation to
whose interests he devoted his entire time.
Thomas Gahan was in many ways one of the most
prominent figures in the political, business and social
activities of Chicago during the past decade. For over
twenty-five years he was the leader of the Cook County
Democracy and for eight years represented his state
on the national committee of his party. As president of
the Ogden Gas Company he held a high place in the
business world.
Mr. Gahan was born in what is now known as
Arlington Heights, Cook County, April 7, 1847. His
first public position was that of captain of police in the
old town of Lake, in which position he won distinction
by establishing and maintaining law and order. This
was especially true during the great strike of 1884.
Through his police connection he drifted into poli-
tics, organizing the Democracy of the town of Lake.
He brought about the nomination of the late Julius S.
Grinnell for state's attorney, who was the only demo-
crat on the ticket to be elected. When the town of
Lake v\?as annexed to the City of Chicago he was
elected alderman to represent the new ward, the
Twenty-ninth, having served several terms as super-
visor before annexation. Mr. Gahan served in the city
council from 1889 to 1893, when he resigned to
become railroad and warehouse commissioner under
Governor Altgeld, whose nomination and election he
had been instrumental in securing. In 1896 he was
elected a member of the Democratic National Com-
mittee for Illinois and re-elected in 1900. Ill health
prevented his acceptance of the honor in 1904. He
also served as chairman of the Democratic Central
Committee, Cook County, from 1895 to 1902. He
was elected delegate to each Democratic national con-
vention from 1884 to 1904. inclusive.
In politics Mr. Gahan was a power. He secured
the nomination and election of such men as Governor
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
248
Altgeld, Mayor Hopkins, of whom lie was a close
friend and adviser, and many others. He exerted a
large influence in state and national politics, taking an
active part in every campaign from the Cleveland-
Elaine struggle in 1884 to the McKinley-Bryan cam-
paign in 1900.
His business career was marked by the same suc-
cess as attended his political endeavors. He was asso-
ciated with Thomas Byrne for many years in general
contracting business, during which time they built
three sections of the drainage canal, the Robey Street
sewer and all the underground work at the Columbian
Exposition.
Saturday evening, April 29, 1905, Mr. Gahan con-
tracted an acute attack of Bright's disease, with which
he had been ailing for two years. His condition
rapidly became worse and the following evening he
succumbed at his residence, 4619 Grand boulevard.
Mr. Gahan was a member of the Sheridan, Cook
County, Ellerslee Cross Country, and Iroquois clubs,
and of the Knights of Columbus. He was a liberal
and silent giver to charity and always evinced a deep
THOMAS GAHAN.
interest in the schools of Chicago. He was married
November 8, 1877 to Miss Sarah A. McNarney, who
survives him, together with his daughters, Sarah,
Olive, Agnes and Rose.
Charles Emmerich, the founder of the largest
feather-pillow manufactory in the United States, was
born August 31, 1840, and died September 14, 1903.
He came to this country at the age of sixteen.
Shortly after arriving he connected himself with
Wiglieb & Co., who were then in the feather and leather
business. Following the feather branch, he was soon
placed in charge of a branch store. This proved very
successful ; in fact, this business in a short time sur-
passed that of the home office. Mr. Wiglieb, about this
time decided to retire from business, and sold the feather
CHARLES EMMERICH.
branch to Mr. Emmerich, from which sprang the pres-
ent company of Chas. Emmerich & Co.
The success of the house is due to the untiring efforts
and honorable dealings of its founder. That he had
much to contend with its evidenced by the fact that in
the great Chicago fire, not only was his business place
entirely destroyed, but he also* lost his home, and all its
contents. He had nothing but what was due him from
his customers, and it was a long time, on account of
poor postal facilities, before he received anything from
this source. With renewed energy he again opened up
a temporary office, and soon had the business on a pay-
ing basis again. In 1905 the plant of Chas. Emmerich
& Co. was again totally destroyed by fire, but, as in the
former case, it arose from this calamity and to-day holds
an enviable position among the business houses of
Chicago.
William H. Bush. In a great commercial center,
in the most attractive period of the world's existence,
it is pleasing to note the philanthropy of a practical
business man, successful and unselfish. The death
of William H. Bush removed not only a prominent
factor in the piano industry of America, but a man
214
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
whose sterling name and substantial achievements are
interwoven with the wonderful growth of Chicago and
the development of the West.
Mr. Bush came here from Baltimore more than half
a century ago, beginning business at a time when stren-
uous and honorable individual effort assisted so much
in the advancement of Chicago as the metropolis of the
West. His energies were ever in the direction of the
higher citizenship and a sterling standard for integrity
in the career of the man, the merchant and the manu-
facturer.
When Chicago was almost obliterated by the great
fire Mr. Bush was engaged in the lumber business, and
all of his worldly possessions, the day after the great
conflagration, consisted of two small charred schooners
laden with lumber, that had been towed from the river
to the outer harbor. His first thought was for Grace
M. E. Church, where he had been a deacon for a quarter
of a century. From his meager stock he generously
aided in the rebuilding of a church on the site of its
predecessor that was completed within a week after its
destruction. Then came anew the struggle for exist-
ence, and Mr. Bush was unusually successful.
With a well-grounded belief in the North Side, Mr.
Bush in 1875, securing the services of Edwin Burling,
BUSH TEMPLE.
architect, erected a large two-story brick building on the
northwest corner of North Clark street and Chicago
avenue, with the idea of establishing a market fashioned
after the old Lexington market in Baltimore. Mr.
Bush devoted the basement, and the three-story addi-
tion in the rear, facing on Chicago avenue, to his pack-
ing interests.
As a market-house with the stall plan was not so
successful as had been anticipated, the free delivery sys-
tem in vogue in this city militating against the old-fash-
ioned style of marketing, the building was remodeled
into stores. In 1882, after seven years in the packing
business, Mr. Bush sold out his interests in that line and
retired, merely devoting his attention to real estate
holdings. But Mr. Bush preferred the activity of a busi-
ness life, and late in 1885 formed a partnership with Mr.
John Gerts, a practical piano man, for the purpose of
manufacturing pianos. The business thus promulgated
flourished with unprecedented success, and Mr. Bush
was still at the helm guiding and directing its large
interests when stricken with the illness which robbed
Chicago of one of its most successful financiers and a
citizen of whom it might well be proud.
The late William H. Bush, while taking a justifiable
pride in his business, had loftier ambitions in bettering
the general conditions of the community. He
was active in the work of the Church for over forty
years, a thorough believer in practical Christianity,
a member of the Civic Federation, the Society for
the Prevention of Vice and other beneficial munic-
ipal organizations. He was ever a strong advo-
cate for temperance, and the encroachment of the
saloons in the Clark street neighborhood was to
him a sore trial. Personally he would tolerate no
affiliation with liquor interests in any property that
he owned or controlled.
In addition to his many charities, one in which
he was particularly interested was the Methodist
Old People's Home, on Foster avenue, in Edge-
water. It was his first donation of $35,000, that
made the building of Bush Hall possible, and his
gift of the lots adjoining will enable the directors
to add the projected wings of the completed build-
ing. The present Bush Hall is a substantial four-
story building, accomodating sixty inmates. The
completed building plan includes three continuous
buildings, of which the one erected is the middle
building, and a chapel on the corner adjoining.
The Home completed will take care of two hun-
dred and fifty people.
An inspection of the Home demonstrates that
it has the inviting atmosphere of a home, with
cozy rooms well lighted and heated and comfort-
ably furnished. The furnishings are substantial
and have been selected with taste. Many nidi-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
245
viduals, Epworth Leagues and other Societies, have
furnished rooms. An institution of this nature must
have an endowment fund, and one of the last bequests
of Mr. Bush was the sum of $30,000 for this purpose.
The Home was dedicated three weeks after Mr. Bush's
death. Interested friends have already promised the
WILLIAM H. BUSH.
necessary money to erect the second building of the
series projected.
Mr. Bush had a sincere fondness for the old corner
where he had been in business so long, and an abiding
faith in that particular section of the North Division.
During the last ten years of his life he had several times
planned to remodel the building, but two years before
his death ordered plans for an entirely new building
upon the site. It was his desire that it should be freed
as far as possible from the environments of commer-
cialism, a monumental structure that should be beautiful
as well as useful. A few weeks before the time appointed
for the breaking of ground preparatory to the erection
of the building Mr. Bush was seized with a fatal illness.
His last request of his two sons was that they should
carry out his projects in regard to the building. As a
result of this request and its faithful execution, the Bush
Temple of Music, a beautiful and imposing structure
now stands as a memorial to one of the most honored
citizens, successful business men, and broad minded
philanthropists of the great western metropolis.
Charles Netcher when fourteen years old started
work as a cash boy and bundle wrapper, and at the time
of his death, thirty-eight years later, was sole proprietor
of one of the largest mercantile houses in the world. By
unceasing work and keen business ability he built up
as a monument to his name, the great retail store where
he passed all the working hours of his life. The history
of his life reads like a young man's sermon on how to
succeed.
Born in Buffalo in 1852 Mr. Netcher when fourteen
years of age entered the dry goods business of Edward
and C. W. Pardridge as cash boy and bundle wrapper.
When the Pardridge brothers came to Chicago in 1869
young Netcher came with them. It is said that after
he became manager of the store at State and Madison
streets, receiving $4,000 a year, he worked eighteen
hours a day and slept on the counter in the store in
order to be at work early the next morning.
After the Chicago fire in which the firm lost every-
thing with the exception of a few cases of goods, which
were on the road in transit, Mr. Netcher suggested they
construct a shanty on Twenty-second and State streets,
which was done, with any available lumber they could
find. They made a success of this undertaking and this
was the beginning of Mr. Netcher's upward career.
When the Pardridges turned their attention to
wheat deals, Mr. Netcher gradually acquired an interest
in the dry goods house over which he was their mana-
CHARLES NETCHER.
ger. Five years later they relinquished all their hold-
ings in the business and he became the sole proprietor
of the Boston Store.
Although Mr. Netcher never considered his health
in his close application to business, the brief fatal ill-
ness preceding his sudden death came as a surprise to
even his closest friends. He had been operated upon
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
for appendicitis and the family was confident of a
speedy recovery when he was stricken with apoplexy.
Death occurred on June 20, 1904.
A short time before his death, Mr. Netcher pur-
chased the Champlain block, one of the large office
buildings of the city. The lower floors of the block
were utilized for the expanding business of the Boston
Store and it was his intention to ultimately rebuild the
old store building to the height of the new structure,
making one of the finest building blocks in the city, to
be known as the Charles Netcher block.
Mr. Netcher cared little for those outside activities
of political and public affairs which attract so many
business men. He adhered closely to business and all
his spare time was devoted to his family. He developed
the Boston Store from an obscure position to one of the
leading retail establishments of the city and increased
his real estate holdings until they were among the
largest in Chicago.
Only a few months before his death, Mr. Netcher
took out a life insurance policy for $500,000, of which
his widow was the beneficiary. She has assumed with
rare executive ability the active management of his
vast business interests. Immediately after Mr.
Netcher's death, the employees of the Boston Store
met and passed resolutions, pledging themselves to
carry on the business on the lines taught by their late
employer.
Mr. Netcher's home life was iclea.1. While his idea
was to save, yet for his wife and family there was
nothing too good. In his entire married life of
thirteen years, Mr. Netcher spent all his time, which
was not given to his business, with his family, where
he found contentment and rest after strenuous clay's
work. His life was above reproach, and his habits were
of the best.
Jacob Forsyth, who died January 29. 1899, was one
of Chicago's pioneer land owners and real estate dealers.
He was born in the north of Ireland, January 12, 1821,
and came to this country when he was fifteen years old,
settling in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He was employed
in a commision house in that city for twenty years
before coming to Chicago.
In 1857 he entered the employ of Clarke & Co., the
western through transportation agents of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad. A few years later he became the north-
western agent for what was then the New York & Erie
Railroad. Previous to this he married a sister of George
W. Clarke, at that time an extensive owner of Chicago
property. General H. F. Clarke, who gave distin-
guished sen-ice in the Mexican war, and later as a mem-
ber of General McClellan's staff, and Colonel R. D.
Clarke, were other brothers-in-law of Mr. Forsyth. Mr.
Forsyth's widow survived him little more than three
months,
He laid the foundation for his fortune in realty
when he purchased 10,000 acres of land in Lake County,
Indiana, in 1866. By this one transaction, he became
the largest single land owner in the Calumet region
near Chicago. In the same year, George W. Clarke
died leaving much of his property to his sister and con-
siderably increasing the acres under Mr. Forsyth's
control.
For years Mr. Forsyth was involved in litigation with
squatters on his immense tracts. He was finally suc-
cessful, and they were expelled. Another bitter contest
to establish his title was with the city of Hammond,
Indiana. Former President Harrison represented him
in this litigation and carried it to a termination favorable
to his client. During these long years of litigation, Mr.
Forsyth was an eager student and reader of authorities
and literature on riparian rights, and was one of the best
posted men in the country on this phase of land liti-
gation. The East Chicago Improvement Company
purchased 8,000 acres from him, and at the same time he
donated i ,000 additional acres as a site for the town of
East Chicago. In 1888, a further inroad into the
immense holding was made when he transferred to the
Standard Oil Company the land which is now covered
by the corporation's plant at Whiting, Indiana.
Mr. Forsyth was a man of pronounced opinions and
great physical vigor. His purchases of realty were
made at a time when the barren sand dunes of the
Indiana shores were considered valueless, except as a
cause for paying taxes. It was not until several years
later that his opinion of their ultimate value was realized.
He was survived by four daughters and five sons, of
whom Oliver O. Forsyth, now administers the affairs
of the estate.
John V. Farwell, 5r., a pioneer and a chief among
the wholesale dry goods merchants of Chicago, was
born in Steuben County, New York, July 29, 1825, the
son of Henry and Nancy (Jackson) Farwell. While he
was in his thirteenth year his parents came to Illinois
and settled on a farm on Rock river, in. Ogle County.
Like many others of our great merchants and eminent
professional men, Mr. John V. Farwell was inured to
labor in his youth. Indeed, until the latter half of this
century had begun, comparatively little trade was done
without reference to the value of farm products. The
country merchant took grain from his customers in
exchange for other goods, and frequently offered it as
payment in whole, or in part, to the jobber from whom
he purchased his stock. Mr. Farwell relates that in his
youth he sold wheat at forty-five cents a bushel, after
hauling it a hundred miles, to Mr. Wadsworth, head
of a dry goods house, and after selling it he helped to
store it in an elevator which was worked by a rope.
Wadsworth & Company, which became the commercial
parent of the far greater firm of J. Y. Farwell & Com-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
L>47
pany, dealt, until 1851. in dry groceries, as well as in
textile fabrics. In the panic of 1857-58, when stumptail
money was the only currency in the Northwest, this firm
paid its debts by buying and shipping wheat to
New York.
After a preliminary education in the common schools
of New York and Il'inois. Mr. Farwell became a student
in the seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois. He came to
Chicago in 1845, and after several years of service as
clerk in various dry goods stores he became a partner
in the firm of Wadsworth & Phelps, in 1851. The firm
of Wadsworth & Company was established in 1835, and
thus its great offshoot, the incorporated firm of J. V.
Farwell & Company, lays claim to the title of the oldest
wholesale dry goods house in Chicago. From the time
of Mr. Farwell's entrance as a partner the business of
the firm was confined solely to the sale of dry goods
and their legitimate adjuncts. In 1870 the headquarters
of the firm were at 72, 74 and 76 Wabash avenue, and in
this year the stock was all but completely destroyed by
fire. Scarcely had this disaster been overcome before the
great fire of 1871 involved the firm in new difficulties.
Undismayed by these calamities, the firm, now John V.
Farwell & Company did business in a wood building on
Michigan avenue, and within six weeks from the destruc-
tion of their premises on Wabash avenue, they converted
their stable and warehouse into a five-story brick store
on Monroe street, near the river. Ten years later the
new Farwell block, that occupies all the space on
Market street between Adams and Monroe and abutting
on the river with a 4OO-foot frontage on Market street,
was built and occupied. Here, as he sits in his
private office, that is occasionally darkened by the
towering hull of some great iron-built steamer, Mr.
Farwell calls to mind that he saw and assisted in the
joyful celebration of the event of the first canal boat
to enter the Chicago river. The circumstance was
regarded as prognostic of great enlargement of the
trade between the city and country, and for many years
after this arrival of the first boat, the advent of a barge
was regarded as important. The firm of John V. Farwell
& Company became an incorporated concern in 1891.
It has grown with the city's growth, and has strength-
ened with its strength, and stands in the front rank of
the commercial institutions of a metropolis of 2,000,000
inhabitants, just as it stood in the first rank when Chi-
cago was but a flourishing and ambitious city of the
third class. In addition to his labors as manager of the
great firm with winch his name is associated, Mr. Far-
well was active in the establishment of the Union
National bank, and served as one of the directors until
several years after the great fire.
In politics Mr. Farwell is Republican. He was a
member of the electoral college that cast its vote for
Lincoln in 1860, and for six vears held the honorable
and arduous, though unprofitable, office of Indian Com-
missioner during the first and second administrations of
President Grant. Though frequently solicited to accept
a nomination for various political offices, Mr. Farwell
has declined to become a candidate for any elective
office, or to hold any lucrative federal appointment.
His political work has been of the unpaid and patriotic
order. During the progress of the war for the Union
Mr. Farwell served as chairman of the Northwestern
Christian Commissions, and in that capacity devoted
most of his time to advancing the temporal and spiritual
welfare of the soldier in the field. There is no nonsec-
tarian, religious or philanthropic movement to which
Mr. Farwell has not given liberal and unostentatious aid.
J. V. FARWELL, SR.
Old -Farwell Hall," now the finest Y. M. C. A. build-
ing on earth, is, perhaps, the most widely-known
manifestation of zeal and munificence toward the
propagation of Christian doctrine.
Mr. Farwell has been twice married : first, to Miss
Abigail Taylor of Illinois, and, second, to Miss Emeret
Cooley of Hartford. Connecticut. There are five sur-
viving children.
Frederick Augustus Smith, appellate justice of the
Branch Court, First District of Illinois, is the son of
Israel G. and Susan (Penoyer) Smith, and was born
at Norwood Park, Cook County, Illinois, February 11,
1844. His early education was acquired in the common
schools of Chicago, and in 1860 he entered the old Uni-
versity of Chicago. He was making excellent progress
in that institution, when in 1863, fired by patriotic ardor,
he threw aside his books and. enlisted as a private in
248
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Company G, I34th Illinois Volunteers. Me remained
in the service with his regiment, participating in the
campaign of Missouri and Kentucky, in which his regi-
ment was engaged, until mustered out in 1864. Return-
ing to civil life, he took up the interrupted course in the
University, and was graduated with honors in 1866.
Following out a long cherished plan he began the study
of law at the Union College of Law, receiving his
diploma from that institution in 1867. He immediately
began practice, forming a partnership with present
United States District Judge C. C. Kohlsaat, which
continued until 1872. The firm of Smith, Helmer &
Moulton was formed in 1890. Afterward Mr. Price's
FREDERICK AUGUSTUS SMITH.
name was added, and the firm name became Smith, Hel-
mer, Moulton & Price.
Mr. Smith had always been an unswerving Republi-
can, and in 1898, became the party's candidate for judge
of the Circuit Court. He failed of election that year, but
again in 1903 was honored by receiving the nomina-
tion for the next term, and was elected, being one of the
three Republicans chosen that year out of the fourteen
candidates of his party for the Circuit Bench. Since
his elevation to the bench. Judge Smith has occupied
his position with all honor and dignity, fulfilling in the
highest degree the confidence and expectations of his
friends. Still greater honors were to come to him,
however. In December, 1903, lie was chosen by the
members of the Supreme Court to be one of the justices
of the Branch Appellate Court, First District of Illinois.
Judge Smith has been successful since his admission
to the bar. The honors that have come to him have
been fairly and honestly earned, won by meritorious
and constant application to the trusts confided to him.
As a practicing lawyer, his clients' interests were care-
fully and faithfully guarded, and his conscientious efforts
in protecting the many intricate and important litiga-
tions confided to his care brought to him a large prac-
tice, and the good will and esteem of all who came in
touch with him. His bearing on the bench has been
marked with the confidence and dignity which come
from deep knowledge, and thorough understanding of
the law in all its phases and complicated details.
Judge Smith has always been a man of great public
spirit, and has been actively connected with many benev-
olent and educational measures. Among the many
social and professional organizations in which he is
prominent may be mentioned the Union League Club;
the Hamilton Club, of which he has been president ;
the Chicago Bar Association, to which he was also
chosen president in 1890, and the Chicago Law Club,
one of the most select and successful organizations of
lawyers in Chicago, and in which he has also filled the
executive office, being elected to that position in 1897.
He" is a member of the board of trustees of Rush Medi-
cal College, and has also been a member of the board of
trustees of the University of Chicago since its founda-
tion, and has participated actively in the organization
and growth of that great educational institution.
Judge Smith was married July 26, 1871, to Miss
Frances B. Morey, daughter of the Rev. Ruben and
Mrs. Abby (demons) Morey, of Merton, Wisconsin.
Willard Milton McEwen, judge of the Superior
Court, was born on a farm in Milan Township, De Kalb
County, Illinois, December 15, 1863. When he was
five years old his parents moved to De Kalb and he
received his grammar and high school education in that
town, graduating from the De Kalb high school in 1882.
Judge McEwen came to Chicago in 1885 and took
a course at the Union College of Law. After his grad-
uation in 1887 he entered the law office of Edward W.
Russell, who was then counsel for several large corpora-
tions. He remained with Mr. Russell three years be-
fore he began practicing for himself.
In October, 1890, he formed a partnership with
Charles S. Deneen, present governor of Illinois, under
the firm name of Deneen & McEwen. The partnership
was dissolved a year later and Judge McEwen formed
a partnership with Frank B. Pease under the firm name
of Pease & McEwen.
When Charles S. Deneen was elected attorney for
the Drainage Board in 1895, Judge McEwen left his
partnership to become Mr. Deneen's assistant. He
took Mr. Deneen's place when the latter was nominated
for state's attorney.
In February, 1896, Judge McEwen became first
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
249
assistant state's attorney, retaining- the position until
January, 1900, when he resigned to practice law for
himself again. His most notable work as assistant
state's attorney was the breaking- np of the so-called
jury bribing "ring." His ten months' investigation
resulted in the flight of Daniel Coughlin and James J.
Lynch and the subsequent indictment of Alexander
WILLARD MILTON McEWEN.
Sullivan when Lynch returned and turned state's evi-
dence. The alleged fixing of juries involved several
street railway cases.
As assistant state's attorney, Judge McEwen also
attracted widespread attention through his prosecution
of the Adolph Luetgert and Emil Rollinger murder
cases and the embezzlement charges against Charles W.
Spalding. Luetgert was sent to the penitentiary for
life for the murder of his wife and Rollinger was hanged
for a similar offense. Spalding was convicted of embez-
zling $419,000 of the State University's funds.
In 1902 he was elected judge of the Superior Court.
Abncr Smith, for two terms a judge of the circuit
court of Cook County and now of the firm of Smith &
Caswell, attorneys and counselors at law, with offices at
630 Chicago Opera House building, is of thorough
American lineage. His ancestors, alike on the mother's
and father's side, "were among the earliest settlers of
Massachusetts. He was born at Orange, Massachusetts,
August 4. 1843. His mother, prior to her marriage, was
Miss Sophronia A. Ward. The head of the Ward
family settled in Massachusetts as early as 1639. and
many of its members have been distinguished in judicial,
military, legislative and clerical circles.
While Abner Smith was but a child his parents
moved to Middlebury, Vermont, attracted by the supe-
rior advantages that town offered for the education of
their family. After due preparation in the public and
other schools, Abner Smith was enrolled as a student
of Middlebury college, and was graduated in 1866. The
Undergraduate, the journal of Middlebury college, in a
review of the professional career of Judge Smith, charac-
terizes him as "one who never aimed at ephemeral bril-
liancy or at the attainment of signal momentary results,
but careful to avoid errors of judgment, and wisely dis-
trustful of mere temporary achievements." These attri-
butes have distinguished the judge through life and
have been the dominant factors of his successful career.
After leaving college Mr. Smith was in charge of
Newton Academy at Shoreham, Vermont, for about a
year, when he decided to go west. Arriving at Chicago,
he became a student in the law office of J. L. Stark.
Mr. Stark himself was from the Green Mountain State
and was a descendant of that Colonel Stark who, in the
Revolutionary Wrar, had come to the aid of Judge
Smith's maternal ancestor, Major-General Ward. There
was a warm feeling of friendship between preceptor and
pupil, and in due time Abner Smith was admitted to the
ABNER SMITH.
practice of law and became a partner with Mr. Stark.
The firm of Stark & Smith was dissolved by the death
of its senior member. Judge Smith continued the busi-
ness of the firm and enlarged it. Subsequently Mr.
Smith formed a partnership with Mr. John M. H. Bur-
gett, and the firm of Smith & Burgett was well known
to lawyers and clients for a period of ten years.
After forming other partnerships of brief duration,
250
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Mr. Smith for a period beginning in 1887 practiced as
an individual, and won his most notable legal victories
by his own generalship. While eminent as a general
practitioner, Mr. Smith attained the highest measure of
success as a commercial and corporation lawyer, and has
been retained as standing counsel by some of the most
famous corporations of this and other states. In 1893
he was elected to the bench of the circuit court, a posi-
tion that he filled with honor to himself and to his con-
stituents for two successive terms.
Judge Smith was married in 1869 to Miss Ada C.
Smith, daughter of the late Sereno Smith of Shoreham,
Vermont. He is of eminently domestic and artistic
tastes, and his home. No. 15 Aldine square, reflects his
artistic and musical disposition.
Simeon P. Shope, former justice of the Supreme
Court of Illinois and one of the leading members of the
SIMEON P. SHOPE.
Illinois bar, is a native of Akron, Ohio, where he was
born December 3, 1837. Two years later his parents
moved to Marseilles, Illinois. He obtained an academic
education and later taught school, in the meantime pur-
suing his studies. After teaching for several years he
entered the law office of Judge Elihu N. Powell and sub-
sequently that of Judge Norman H. Purple of Peoria,
Illinois. After being admitted to the bar in 1858, he
practiced his profession in the various courts of Illinois
until 1877, when he was elected to the circuit bench.
He served two terms in the old tenth circuit, with
Judge Chauncey L. Higbie as one of his associates. He
was elected in June, 1885, to the Supreme bench of the
state, for a period of nine years. At the expiration of
his term he was urged for the renomination, but he
declined the honor. Removing to Chicago in 1894.
he resumed his law practice. He is well known as a
prominent member of the Chicago bar. He is now
senior member of the firm of Shope, Mathias, Zane &
Wreber.
Judge Shope has interested himself largely in public
affairs. Prior to his judicial election he had been a con-
servative Democrat, taking an active part in his party's
activities. He is a Mason, Knight Templar, Elk and
Knight of Pythias. He was married in 1858, his wife
dying in Florida, on January 4, 1883. There were four
children born to them, of whom the two younger are
still living.
Ephraim Banning comes of good legal stock, his
mother, who was a Kentuckian, being a sister of the
late Judge Pinkney H. Walker of the Supreme Court
of Illinois, and having among her people others who
attained distinction in the science of law. Her father,
Gilmer Walker, had a large practice, and his brother,
Cyrus Walker, was a distinguished practitioner in Ken-
tucky until he removed to Illinois, where he achieved
still more noteworthy success — Lincoln, Douglass, S. T.
Logan and Cyrus Walker ranking at one time as the
four leading lawyers of the state.
Mr. Banning's name may be placed on the long
roll of successful men whose characters have been
formed largely by maternal influence, but the character
of his father, after whom he was named, was far above
the average. A Virginian by birth, and of the class
to which in that early day few opportunities of educa-
tion were offered, he became a person highly esteemed
among the early settlers of Illinois and Kansas. He
turned his back upon slavery, and at a very early day
settled in McDonough County, Illinois, where Ephraim
Banning was born, July 21, 1849. Subsequently the
family moved to Kansas, and in that territory the early
boyhood of Ephraim was spent, and by the incidents
of his life among the early, sturdy, freedom-living set-
tlers of "John Brown's Commonwealth," his earnest
devotion to the cause of civil and religious liberty
doubtless was largely determined. From Kansas the
Banning family moved to Missouri, and while there
the Civil war broke out. Two of Mr. Banning's
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
251
brothers promptly enlisted for service in the cause of
the Union, Ephraim — then about twelve years of age —
becoming his father's "right-hand man'' on the farm.
One of the brothers gave his life to the national cause,
the other served with honor till the close of the war.
The educational advantages of a frontier settlement in
Missouri during the war times were not of the best, but
young Banning made the most of them, and in his seven-
teenth year had learned all the schools of the neighbor-
hood could teach, and afterward attended the
Brookfield, Missouri, Academy, where, under the tutor-
ship of the Rev. J. P. Finley, D. D., he studied the
classics and other courses of a liberal education. Subse-
quently he became a student at law in the office of Hon.
Samuel P. Huston of Brookfield.
In 1871 Mr. Banning came to Chicago and acted as
student and clerk in the law office of Messrs. Rosenthal
& Pence, and was admitted to the bar of Illinois by
the Supreme Court in June of the following year. In
October he opened an office for himself, and without
the advantage of influential friends or political patron-
age soon succeeded in gaining a fair clientage as a suc-
cessful practitioner. Speaking of his early experience,
the late Judge Henry W. Blodgett has said that "he had
a large and varied practice" in his court, and that "he
showed himself a good admiralty lawyer, was well
equipped on all questions arising under the bankrupt
law and in commercial cases generally, as \vell as in
real estate law."
Mr. Banning' s mind was directed by circumstances
attendant on his practice and by natural tendency to
a special study of the law of patents, and after about
ten years he practically withdrew from general prac-
tice and made a specialty of patent cases. There is
no doubt that Mr. Banning would have achieved
marked success as a general practitioner, for he has an
intellect that is both quick and cautious, and is a very
convincing speaker; but he did well in following the
bent of his nature. In 1877 he was joined in practice by
his brother, Thomas A. Banning, and in 1888 by George
S. Payson, who was succeeded in 1894 by Thomas F.
Sheridan, who retired from the firm in 1900. Samuel
W. Banning, son of Thomas A., was admitted to the
firm in 1903. and Walker Banning, son of Ephraim, in
1905. For twenty-five years or more the firm has been
not only eminent, but prominent, in the management of
litigations relative to patents and other intellectual
property. Their briefs are familiar in the Supreme
Court of the United States and in the Federal courts at
Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburg, St. Louis, St.
Paul, Cincinnati, Kansas City. Boston, Philadelphia,
New York, New Orleans and other places.
Though an ardent Republican, Mr. Banning
remained "a private in the ranks" until elected a
McKinley presidential elector in 1896. In 1897 he was
appointed by Governor Tanner to the unpaid, but hon-
orable and responsible, office of member of the State
Board of Charities, the duties of which he was peculiarly
well fitted to perform. Early in 1899 he was strongly
urged for the office of United States District judge at
Chicago, for which he was supported by Senators Cul-
lom and Mason and a majority of the Chicago congress-
men— five out of seven — and, as stated by one of his
opponents, endorsed by "the Republican organizations
of the state, county and city, together with the bar asso-
ciation and the leading citizens of Chicago." The Presi-
EPHRAIM BANNING.
dent, however, had other plans, and, in pursuance of
these, made a personal appointment.
Mr. Banning is a member of the Union League Club
and of the American. State and Chicago Bar associa-
tions, in the latter of which he has at times been
an active factor. For several years he was a mem-
ber of the committee of the Chicago Bar Associa-
tion on legislation with reference to Federal judges and
practice in the Federal courts. He was also a member
of its committee on legislation to establish the juvenile
court in Chicago and revise the laws relating to the
care of delinquent and dependent children in Illinois.
He served as chairman of the committee on Organiza-
tion of the Congress on Patents and Trademarks, held
under the auspices of the World's Congress Auxiliary of
the World's Columbian Exposition, in 1893. and which
was presided over by Judge Blodgett, formerly of the
United States Court at this city. He was chosen by
this congress as one of five to present certain industrial
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
questions, specially relative to patents and trademarks,
to the Congress of the United States.
In religion Mr. Banning is a Presbyterian, and is
an elder in that church. He has been twice married —
first, to Miss Lucretia T. Lindsley, who died in 1887,
leaving three sons, all of whom survive ; and, second,
to Miss Emilie B. Jenne. He resides on Washington
boulevard, near Robey street, and has been a resident
of that vicinity for over thirty years.
John Stocker Miller, son of John and Jane (McLeod)
Miller, was born at Louisville, St. Lawrence County,
New York, May 24, 1847. Pursuing his earlier
studies in the common schools and academy in his native
town, he later entered the St. Lawrence University at
JOHN STOCKER MILLER.
Canton, New York, and received his bachelor's degree
from that institution with the class of '69. He then
entered upon the study of law in the legal department
of the same university, and in the following year was
admitted to the bar at Ogdensburg.
Mr. Miller did not at once enter upon the practice
of his profession, but devoted himself to teaching,
becoming professor of mathematics in his alma mater
during the school year of 1871-72, and of Latin and
Greek for the two years, 1872-74. He then resigned,
and in the early part of the year last mentioned came
to Chicago.
Mr. Miller's preparation in the law had been most
thorough and his preceptors men of high standing at
the bar. As a natural result of this he had no difficulty
in securing a foothold and building up a satisfactory
clientage from the beginning of his career in this pro-
fession. From 1874-76 he practiced alone, and, fol-
lowing this time, in association with George Herbert
and John H. S. Quick, under the firm name of Herbert,
Quick & Miller. After the death of Mr. Herbert some
years later, the firm was continued under the name of
Quick & Miller, until 1886, when Mr. Miller became
associated with Senator Henry W. Leman. Four years
later Merritt Starr was admitted to the firm, and since
then George R. Peck has succeeded Mr. Leman, the
style of the firm name being now Peck, Miller & Starr.
Mr. Miller has come to be ranked among the ablest
and most successful chancery lawyers in Chicago, and
his connections with numerous important cases of this
nature, among them the "Flagler," "Riverside" and
"Phillips and South Park" litigations, brought him
prominently before the public. The manner in which he
acquitted himself in these and other cases led to his
being appointed corporation counsel of Chicago by
Mayor Washburn in the spring of 1891.
This most important post Mr. Miller held for the
following two years, and in this time was exceedingly
active in behalf of the interests of the city in several
cases against railroad companies, involving the eleva-
tion of tracks and extension of the city streets over
the same. The celebrated "Lake Front" case against
the Illinois Central Railroad Company was also argued
by Mr. Miller in behalf of the city during this period.
He retired from this office in 1893 and has since then
devoted himself to general practice.
Mr. Miller is an influential Republican and a mem-
ber of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church in Ken-
wood. He is affiliated with the Union League,
Chicago, Hamilton, Kenwood and other clubs. He was
married December 12, 1887, to Miss Ann Gross of this
city, and has two children, a son and a daughter.
William W. Gurley, prominent in transportation
circles of the United States on account of his connec-
tion with several traction companies as general counsel,
was born in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, January 27, 1851. He
was the son of John J. Gurley, also a lawyer, who was
a member of the constitutional convention of Ohio and
who served as probate judge of Morrow: County.
After attending the public schools of Mt. Gilead,
Mr. Gurley entered Ohio Wesleyan University, and was
graduated in 1870. During the year after his gradua-
tion he was superintendent of public schools of Seville,
Ohio. He then gave up teaching, read law in his
father's office and was admitted to the bar in June,
Mr. Gurley came to Chicago in September, 1874,
and has been practicing law here since. His work has
been principally corporation practice, and during his
more than thirty years in Chicago he has organized and
acted as general counsel of many large companies. He
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
253
became identified with traction interests first in 1888,
when he aided in the organization of and became gen-
eral counsel of the South Side Elevated Railroad.
He was one of the incorporators of the Metropolitan
West Side Elevated Railroad, which was organized in
March, 1892, and has up to the present time acted as
general counsel of the company. In 1901 he was
WILLIAM W. GURLEY.
appointed general counsel of the Union Traction Com-
pany and has been brought prominently before the
public since, owing to the protracted litigation between
the company and city over the company's rights.
Mr. Gurley is a member of the Chicago, Union
League, Washington Park, Chicago Golf, Exmoor,
Country and Edgewater Golf clubs. The New York
Club and the Transportation Club of New York City.
His wife is a daughter of Joseph Turney, who served
two terms as state treasurer of Ohio. Mr. and Mrs.
Gurley and their one daughter, Helen Kathryn, reside
at 528 North State street. Mr. Gurley's offices have
been in the Marquette building for several years.
Charles M. Aldrich, one of the leading lawyers of
Chicago and one of the foremost exponents of corpora-
tion law in the country, was born in Lagrange, Indiana,
August 26, 1850. Both his father and mother. Hamil-
ton M. and Harriet (Sherwood) Aldrich, came from
the East, the former from Vermont and the latter from
New York. The Aldriches spring from old English
stock, though the family have been native Americans
for the last few generations. As a boy Mr. Aldrich
worked on his father's farm until the age of sixteen,
obtaining in the meantime such elementary education as
a common school would permit. His parents then
moved to Orland, Steuben County, Indiana, to allow
their children better educational advantages. Charles
H. entered the Orland seminary at sixteen, and, com-
pleting his studies there, entered the high school at
Coldwater, Michigan. Thence he went to the University
of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating with the class of
'75, receiving a bachelor's degree, classical course. In
1893 the faculty conferred upon him the honorary
degree of M. A.
Mr. Aldrich began the practice of law at Fort
Wayne, Indiana, then the second city to Indianapolis in
the state in point of population, wealth and progress.
From the outset he assumed a leading place at the
Indiana liar. In 1884 he was urged by leading Repub-
licans to become a candidate for the nomination to the
state's attorney-general's office. Without making any
campaign whatsoever to promote his candidacy, he fell
short of the nomination by only a few votes. In 1886
he moved to Chicago. He gained a national reputation
in the Central and Southern Railroad, the Union Pacific
Railroad and the Western Union Telegraph cases, in
CHARLES H. ALDRICH.
which he successfully upheld the side of the federal gov-
ernment against the most eminent lawyers in the coun-
try. These cases both served to augment his profes-
sional reputation and practice, and led to his selection
as Solicitor-General under President Harrison. After
serving the Republican administration for several years
he returned to Chicago to resume his private practice,
which has since continued uninterruptedly. Among his
254
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
clients are some of the largest corporate interests in
the West.
Mr. Aldrich is an ex-president of the Chicago Law
Club and trustee of the Chicago Law Institute. He has
also served as vice-president and member of committee
of political action of the Union League Club. He was
married on October 13, 1875, to Miss Helen Roberts
of Indiana. They have a family of one son and two
daughters.
Charles S.Thornton was born in Boston, Massachu-
setts, April 12, 1851. He attended the public schools of
Boston, including the Boston Latin School, and grad-
uated from Harvard College in 1872. He came to Chi-
cago and has remained here continuously since that
date. He was admitted to the bar on examination by
the Supreme Court of Illinois in the fall of 1873. He
entered into active practice immediately, and has con-
tinued ever since. He entered into business relations
with Mr. Justus Chancellor in 1883.
For many years Mr. Thornton has been the senior
member of the firm which has always been known as
Thornton & Chancellor, although for many years the
CHARLES S. THORNTON.
firm comprised eight practicing lawyers. Mr. Thornton
has served the public as president of the board of edu-
cation of Auburn Park, where he resides, and has
been a member of the several boards of education of
Illinois, Cook County and Chicago. He was corpora-
tion counsel of the Town of Lake and afterwards cor-
poration counsel of the City of Chicago. His practice
at the bar has been largely in the direction of corpora-
tion and real estate litigation. In politics he has always
been a Democrat, and has managed several local cam-
paigns for his party. He is a member of the Masonic
and Odd P'ellows orders.
Adams Augustus Goodrich, senior member of Good-
rich, Vincent & Bradley, has a large practice in both the
civil and criminal courts of Cook County. At different
ADAMS AUGUSTUS GOODRICH.
times he has been elected to the offices of state's attorney
and judge.
Mr. Goodrich was born at Jerseyville, Jersey County,
Illinois, January 8, 1849. His grandfather, Clark H.
Goodrich, was one of the pioneer lawyers of the state,
coming here in 1840 and becoming district attorney of
the old first district, of which Peoria was then a part.
Mr. Goodrich received his early education in the Jersey-
ville elementary and high schools.
When he was sixteen years old his uncle, Congress-
man A. L. Knapp, secured an appointment for him in
the United States military academy at West Point. He
followed his studies there for three and a half years, and
when the course was almost completed decided to
abandon his military prospects on account of ill health
and a preference for a professional career. After a two
years' trip through the West he began reading law in
the office of his uncle, Robert M. Knapp, at Jerseyville,
and later at Springfield, Illinois, in the office of the
Hon. A. L. Knapp.
At the bar examination of 1873 he was admitted,
and at once started to practice in Jerseyville. In 1878
he was elected state's attorney of Jersey County, and
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
255
re-elected with increasing majorities to the office in 1880
and 1884. In October, 1887, he resigned the prose-
cutor's office to enter the field as a candidate for county
judge of Jersey County, and was elected to this office
in November, 1887.
While still a judge he opened law offices in Chicago,
and in 1889 moved here and made his permanent resi-
dence in this city. When Judge Richard Prendergast
was county judge of Cook County, it was often neces-
sary that he be absent from the bench, and during such
occasions Judge Goodrich invariably was invited from
his Jersey County bench to preside for him. Later Mr.
Goodrich became attorney for the drainage board and
had charge of the immense number of condemnation
suits that were fought by that body.
Judge Goodrich is a Democrat in politics, and dur-
ing the incumbency of the younger Mayor Harrison
was chairman of the board of Bridewell inspectors. He
has always taken an active part in municipal affairs, but
has never been a candidate for any political office in
Chicago.
In 1895 he was appointed by Governor Altgeld one
of the five trustees to select a location, establish and
build the Northern Illinois Normal School. He was
the first president of the board when the school was
established at De Kalb. In 1900 he was re-elected for
another five-year term.
Judge Goodrich is a Knight Templar, Odd Fellow
and Knight of Pythias and a member of the Chicago
Athletic, the Iroquois, the Washington Park, Chicago
and other local clubs.
Albert J. Hopkins, junior senator from Illinois, is a
distinctive product of the state he represents in the
upper house of the Congress of the United States. He
shares with General John A. Logan the distinction of
being the only native born Illinoisan to represent his
state in the Senate. As a lawyer and as a member of
both houses of Congress, Senator Hopkins has a strong,
clean and clear-cut record.
He was born on a farm in De Kalb County, August
15, 1846. This environment developed a strong, robust
constitution and an ambition for a thorough education.
To attain this end much self denial and painstaking
economy was practiced. After the usual experience
of the country boy in the district school and the town
schools he entered Hillsdale (Michigan) College. He
was graduated from this institution in the spring of
1870, and his alma mater has since honored him with
the degree of LL. D. The bar was his aim from the
start, and after graduation he studied law and com-
menced the practice of his profession at Aurora. He
soon entered politics, and was elected state's attorney of
Kane County in 1872, holding that office for four years.
His record as state's attorney brought him a large and
lucrative practice. He kept up his interest in political
affairs and was a member of the Republican state central
committee from 1878 to 1880, and was on the list of
presidential electors on the Elaine and Logan ticket in
1884.
Senator Hopkins was first elected to Congress to
fill a vacancy caused by the death of the Hon. Reuben
Ellwood, during the Forty-ninth Congress. From then
on he served continuously during the Fiftieth, Fifty-first,
Fifty-second, Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, Fifty-fifth, Fifty-
sixth and Fifty-seventh Congresses. This service
of nearly eighteen years in the House of Repre-
sentatives gave him a leading position in the Illinois
delegation in Congress. During the time he served
ALBERT J. HOPKINS.
on many of the leading committees of the House,
notably the merchant marine and fisheries, post-
offices and postroads, and ways and means. The import-
ance of his work on the ways and means committee,
which is the most important committee in Congress,
extended over a period of twelve years. The sub-com-
mittee which framed the Dingley law was guided in a
large measure by him. As a member of that sub-com-
mittee he helped to frame all the tariff legislation that
has been enacted by Congress since the McKinley bill.
In 1902 when the Republicans of the state began to
cast about for a suitable candidate for the senate to
succeed the Hon. Wm. E. Mason, the logical man for
the honor was Representative Albert J. Hopkins. For
many years he had been one of the leading members of
the Illinois delegation in the House, and this combined
with his clean record as a lawyer and a citizen made him
25(>
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
the most available man. His choice was settled upon at
the state convention in the fall of 1902, and this action
was confirmed by the legislature in January of the next
year. He took his seat in the Senate at the extra ses-
sion of that body on March 4, 1903. Though one of
the comparatively new members in the Senate his ability
has been already recognized in his appointment on a
number of the important committees. He is chairman
of the fisheries committee and also member of the fol-
lowing: Commerce, corporations in the District of
Columbia, Cuban relations, enrollment of bills, Inter-
oceanic canals, Mississippi river and its tributaries, priv-
ileges and elections and disposition of documents. In the
reorganization of the Senate at the coming session he
will no doubt be recognized even more fully than he
has been.
Senator Hopkins has always been a friend of labor
and has taken an active interest in all legislation that
tended to shorten working hours, and to ameliorate
the condition of the working man. Much of the legis-
lation that has improved the condition of the American
sailor was secured by his active support and cooperation
while a member of the committee on merchant marine
in the House of Representatives. He has already taken
a prominent part in the deliberations of the Senate con-
cerning the building of the Panama canal. While the
treaty between the United States and Panama was pend-
ing in the Senate he ably defended the action of the
administration in recognizing the Republic of Panama,
and in negotiating the treaty which secured the authority
to the United States of constructing and maintaining
the canal.
Senator Hopkins is a strong, virile individual.
Intellectually and physically he might be said to be in
his prime. His friends and constituents in Illinois look
forward to seeing him take a leading and commanding
position in the Senate of the United States within the
next few years. Within recent years he has identified
himself more closely with Chicago interests than for-
merly. The large practice that has come to him has
necessitated his moving his law offices to this city, and
he is now the senior member of the firm of Hopkins,
Peffers & Hopkins, with offices in The Temple. His
home he still keeps in Aurora. Senator Hopkins was
married to Emma C. Stolp of Aurora. They have an
interesting family of four children.
William 5. Forrest, the celebrated criminal lawyer,
was born in Baltimore, July 9, 1852. After receiving a
thorough school education in his native city, he entered
Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 1875,
with a classical degree. From Dartmouth he went to
Boston, reading law there for three years. Coming to
Chicago, he readily passed the Illinois bar examinations
and commenced his practice.
Equipped with a comprehensive knowledge of the
various branches of law and endowed with the gift of
oratory, he has been peculiarly qualified to succeed in
his particular branch of jurisprudence, criminal law, of
which he has become one of the most eminent expo-
nents in the country. He has figured in many notable
cases which gave him a national reputation, of which
the famous Cronin murder cases probably attracted the
widest attention. In the John Lamb case, almost
equally famous, Mr Forrest secured the defendant's
acquittal after a four-year fight. In this case Lamb had
been adjudged guilty of murder through circumstantial
evidence, and sentenced to be hanged. The case was
appealed, and the first decision reversed. The chief
WILLIAM S. FORREST.
point of contention was the liability of a conspirator for
the acts of a co-conspirator. The Schank case was an-
other where Mr. Forrest distinguished himself. Here
he secured the acquittal of the defendant upon a murder
charge by showing that the deceased party met his death
through malpractice of the attending surgeon after the
stabbing.
Another example of his astuteness was exhibited in
the McLain brothers case, in which the defendants
were charged by the federal government with using
the mails for fraudulent purposes. The McLain brothers
were prominent board of trade operators, and the charge
was "bucket-shopping." Mr. Forrest raised the con-
tention that bucket-shopping was gambling rather than
fraud, and, after a month's argument, during which no
evidence was introduced, the court sustained his point
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
257
and the men were discharged. He secured an acquittal
in the case of the state against Officer John Baginski,
charged with killing an Italian and wounding two others.
In defending E. S. Dreyer, the banker, he secured a
disagreement of the jury. The Chandler embezzlement
case ended in an acquittal. In the first case of John
Dal ton, who had been sentenced to the penitentiary for
two years for fraudulent use of the mails, Mr. Forrest
carried the case to the United States Court of Appeals,
and the decision was reversed. In the second case,
where Dal ton was tried for sending lottery advertising
matter from one state to another, the prosecution intro-
duced eighty-six witnesses, and the defense none, but
the case ended in a disagreement. He secured the
release of Alderman John J. Brennan, who had been con-
victed of election fraud, by having the decision set aside
in the appellate court.
He also successfully defended Charles Spalding,
Thomas J. O'Malley, John D. Snearly and James Maney,
lieutenant of the Fifteenth United States Infantry, and
Baron von Beidenfeld. He has been equally successful
in conducting prosecutions, notably Mannow and Wind-
rath, who were hanged for the murder of Carey B. Birch,
Lake and Griswold, who received a life sentence for kill-
ing Patrick Owens, and Healy and Robbard, who were
tried in Dubuque, Iowa, and sentenced for life for the
murder of two private policemen. He was retained by
the civic federation in 1894 to prosecute sixty-nine
Democrats for election frauds. Three were sent to the
penitentiary, and forty-nine were fined. He conducted
the criminal prosecutions for the Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul Railroad for three years, securing during that
time 189 convictions.
During his legal career Mr. Forrest has participated,
either for defense or prosecution, in over two hundred
and fifty homicide cases, in which his percentage of suc-
cesses has been so great as to entitle him to his present
high rank in criminal law.
Granville W. Browning was born at Indianapolis,
Indiana, March 14, 1856. After graduating from the
Literary Department of Michigan University with the
class of 1877 he came to Chicago, read law in the office
of the late William H. King, and was admitted to the
bar in June, 1880.
Since his admission to the bar Mr. Browning has
been actively engaged in the practice of his profession,
devoting himself to real estate and corporation law. He
was first a partner of Judge Samuel M. Moore, for a
long time chancellor of the Superior Court, and after-
wards was associated with Col. Alexander M. Wool-
folk. Since 1898 he has been associated with Stuart G.
Shepard. Mr. Browning was a candidate for judge on
the Democratic ticket in 1893 and 1897, but both
tickets went down in landslides. Mr. Browning
17
received the highest number of votes cast for any can-
didate on the ticket in 1897.
Mr. Browning was appointed first assistant corpora-
tion counsel of the City of Chicago by Mayor Harri-
son, in July of 1897, and has represented the city as
special counsel since 1899 m many important cases with
uniform success. His most notable victory was in the
famous "Lake Front" case, in the Supreme Court of the
United States, which had dragged along in the courts
in different forms for twenty years, the riparian rights
and real property in dispute being estimated to be worth
$100,000,000. Mr. Browning conducted the final liti-
gation in the case, defeating the claims of the Illinois
Central Railroad Co., to enlarge its use of the lake shore
GRANVILLE W. BROWNING.
along the entire Lake Front to Fiftieth street. He also
won the case of the People's Gas Light & Coke
Company against the city, in the Supreme Court of the
United States, where all contract rights to charge one
dollar per 1,000 feet of gas, as set up by the company,
were defeated. He also won the Van Buren street
tunnel case, wherein the Illinois Supreme Court ordered
the West Chicago Street Railway Company to lower
the Van Buren street tunnel, so that the navigation
of the Chicago river might be restored. Mr. Browning
took the position that the tunnel destroyed navigation
and must be lowered as a nuisance at the company's
expense and the Supreme Court sustained his posi-
tion.
He has recently won the Westfall case, wherein one
party sought to reduce Lake avenue south of Jackson
Park to a street eighty feet wide, and others sought to
258
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
recover the entire street as private property. He
obtained a decree, maintaining the street perpetually
as a street 150 feet wide. Mr. Browning' also won the
League ball club case, establishing the militia law in
this state ; the Eisendrath case, recovering Sangamon
street, for many years used as private property ; the
Shirk case, reclaiming the corner of Park Row and
Michigan avenue, and restoring it to the public, and
many other cases involving important public questions.
Mr. Browning has also been a Master in Chancery
of the Superior Court of Cook County for some years.
He is a member of the Fourth Presbyterian Church and
of the University, Chicago, Onwentsia and Saddle &
Cycle clubs and of the Law Club, the Bar Association
and other organizations. Mr. Browning was married in
1903 and lives in the Twenty-first Ward.
Paul Brown of the law firm of Horton & Brown,
although still a comparatively young man, has been
prominent in legal circles of Chicago for a score of
PAUL BROWN.
years. He is the son of Dr. Henry T. Brown, one of
the early settlers of Illinois, who came to McHenry
County from New York. His mother is a native of
Vermont. His primary and higher English education
was obtained in the common and high schools of
McHenry County, his native county.
After completing his high school course. Mr. Brown
came to Chicago and studied law in the office of Hoyne,
Horton & Hoyne, then one of the most prominent
firms in the city. In the spring of 1885, he was
admitted to the bar and a few months later was
appointed Master in Chancery of the Circuit Court of
Cook County. So well did Mr. Brown meet the
requirements of the position that he was reappointed
three times. In the fall of 1893 after eight years serv-
ice he resigned in order to devote his entire time to
private practice.
In 1889 Mr. Brown formed a partnership with
Clarence A. Knight, and this continued until 1903.
They were largely engaged in corporate and chancery
practice and represented several railway companies as
general solicitors. After leaving the firm of Knight &
Brown Mr. Brown, in the fall of 1903, formed a part-
nership with Oliver H. Horton, then but recently
retired from the Circuit Court bench, where he had
served for sixteen years. While engaged in a general
practice, the firm is counsel for a large insurance com-
pany and has recently administered the affairs of an
elevator company, handling more than a million dollars
in a year.
Mr. Brown is a member of the Union League, Mid-
day and Calumet clubs. In 1888 he was married to
Miss Grace A. Owens, daughter of O. W. Owens of
McHenry County and they have a family of two boys
and a girl.
Thomas S. Hog<m, conspicuous in legal circles of
Chicago, was born in Chicago, January 31, 1860. His
father, M. W. Hogan, also an attorney, moved to St.
Louis soon after the subject of this sketch was born,
became state's attorney and held the office for twelve
years and other state and municipal offices during his
long residence in that city.
After graduating from the St. Louis University with
the degree of Master of Arts, Mr. Hogan studied law
in the office of Ex-Governor Reynolds of Missouri and
Judge Irwin Z. Smith. He later attended the Wash-
ington University, where he obtained the degree of
LL. B., and was admitted to practice in the courts of
Missouri, April 10, 1882. Returning to Chicago in
1886, Mr. Hogan was within a month admitted to the
bar of Illinois and has since been engaged in general
practice in the state and federal courts.
In the course of his practice in Chicago Mr. Hogan
has been engaged as counsel in much important litiga-
tion. As associate counsel for plaintiff he helped to
secure the largest verdict ever rendered in a personal
injury case, the amount being $40,000, in the case of
Bush vs. the Northern Pacific Railroad Company. The
case was heard before Judge Gresham in the
United States Circuit Court. Mr. Hogan also rep-
resented Richard Mansfield in the litigation brought
against the actor by S. E. Gross involving the author-
ship of the play, Cyrano de Bergerac. The case
involving the title of the play, Sherlock Holmes, in
which he represented Charles Frohman, William Gil-
lette and Conan Doyle in the Supreme Court of Illi-
nois was decided in favor of his clients. He also repre-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
259
santed Mr. Frohman in the Little Minister case. In
the Iroquois theater cases before the Cook County
coroner he successfully guarded the interests of his
clients, Kla\v and Erlanger. He has been frequently
called to other American cities and to London, Eng-
land, to represent clients.
Mr. Hogan is a director in the National Printing
& Engraving Company, the United Chemists' Asso-
ciation, the Credit Protective Association, the San
Marcos Rubber Plantation Company, the Colonial Min-
ing Company, the American Amusement Company and
the United States Amusement Company. He is a
member of many of the leading clubs of Chicago, and
an honorary member of clubs in New York,
Boston, St. Louis, London and Paris. At present he is
a member of the firm Hogan & Hogan, which has
an extensive practice throughout the country.
Mr. Hogan is not married and resides at 1578 Jack-
son boulevard. He has probably one of the finest
private libraries in Chicago. He is the author of
several plays and has a reputation for public speaking.
THOMAS S. HOGAN.
Mr. Hogan has never held a public office. Several
times he has been tendered the nomination for judge,
but has declined each time.
Edward J. Brundagc was born at Campbell, New
York, May 13, 1869, and attended the public schools in
Detroit, Michigan. At the age of fourteen lie entered
a railroad office in Detroit, remaining there until the
removal of the general office to Chicago, in 1885. Mr.
Brundage at once took up the duties of the position at
Chicago and remained with the company until 1898,
at which time he had risen to the position of chief clerk.
He studied law at night, was admitted to the bar in
1892, and was graduated from the Chicago College of
Law the following year. In 1898 he was elected a
member of the Forty-first General Assembly. He was
appointed by Governor Tanner as one of the two vice-
presidents from Illinois to the Pan-American Exposi-
tion and was later named as a member of the Illinois
EDWARD J. BRUNDAGE.
State Commission. In 1902 he was again elected a
member of the Illinois General Assembly. Pie was
elected president of the board of commissioners of Cook
County on the Republican ticket in November, 1904.
Mr. Brundage is engaged in the practice of law, and has
represented the state on several occasions as special
counsel.
John f. Smulski has achieved success in more lines
of effort than often fall to the lot of a man of his age.
He has been successful in business, in law, in politics
and in the public service. For seven years he has been
the president of the Pulaski Lumber Company, a pros-
perous and growing concern; with his father, William
Smulski, he has been instrumental in building up an
extensive and profitable publishing business; he has
built up a lucrative law practice, and four times in the
last eight years the people have approved his acts as a
public servant by re-electing him by increasing major-
ities.
Mr. Smulski was born in German Poland in 1867.
and came to this country when thirteen years old. His
education was begun in Germany, but completed in this
country, when he graduated from St. Jerome's College,
260
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Berlin, Canada, in 1884. After his graduation he joined
his father in the publication of the Polish Catholic
Gazette, to which he devoted his energies for four years.
It was the first Polish paper established in this country,
its publication having been begun in 1871 by William
Smulski. who came to America in 1869.
In 1888 Mr. Smulski decided to study law. He
JOHN F. SMULSKI.
graduated from the Union College of -Law in 1890, and
at once entered upon the practice of his profession.
But it is in politics that Mr. Smulski has achieved his
greatest success. From boyhood he had taken an
interest in the politics of his ward, always affiliating
with the Republican party. In 1896 the Republicans of
the Sixteenth ward insisted that lie make the race for
alderman against Peter Kiolbassa, the Democratic
candidate. Mr. Kiolbassa had always been popular
among the Polish voters, who largely constitute its
citizenship, and he entered the contest with the prestige
of having just come from two years' service as city
treasurer. The ward was nominally Democratic by
3,000 majority, but Mr. Smulski was defeated by only
sixty-three votes.
In 1898 Henry Ludolph, one of the Democratic
aldermen, was killed in a railroad accident and Mr.
Smulski was elected to fill the unexpired term. He was
continuously re-elected alderman until 1903, when he
was elected city attorney on the Republican ticket,
being its only successful candidate. When he entered
the office he found the dockets crowded with personal
injury cases against the city, the damage claims aggre-
gating $36,000,000. In two years he practically cleared
the dockets and the first year reduced the average judg-
ment against the city from $1,000 under his predecessor
to $426. The next year he reduced the average to $273.
In the spring of 1905, Mr. Smulski was renominated
for city attorney and again was the only Republican
candidate elected. While the Republican candidate for
mayor was defeated by 24,000 votes, Mr. Smulski was
elected by a plurality of over 19,000 votes. In all his
candidacies Mr. Smulski has never sought the office.
In each race it has been a case of the office seeking the
man.
Hugo Pam, member of the law firm of Pam & Hurd.
was born in Chicago, January 20, 1870. He received
his education in the public schools of Chicago, and grad-
uated from the West Division High School in 1889.
He entered the literary department of the University of
Michigan, and graduated with the degree of Ph. B. in
1892. In the fall of 1892 Mr. Pam entered the law
offices of Moses, Pam & Kennedy, and was admitted to
the bar in January, 1894.
In February, 1897, Mr. Pam withdrew from the firm
of Moses, Pam & Kennedy and opened his own office
HUGO PAM.
in the New York Life building. By this time his repu-
tation was such that his services were in wide demand,
and in 1898 he became a member of the firm of Pam,
Donnelly & Glennon and continued as a member of the
firm of Pam, Calhoun & Glennon, after Judge Donnelly
had been elevated to the circuit bench. Mr. Pam now
is a member of the firm of Pam & Hurd, the two other
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
261
members of the firm being his distinguished brother,
Mr. Max Pam, and Mr. Harry B. Kurd.
Mr. Pam is a strenuous worker, and the knottier
the problem at hand the more enjoyment does lie take
in its solution. As an advocate, his command of the
details of a case when addressing court and jury, and his
accurate knowledge of the law, have won him a high
position at the bar. In addition to a large general prac-
tice, his firm numbers among its clients many of the
large corporations in the country.
In conclusion, it may be said that Mr. Pam is a
thorough American in his ideals and sentiments. He is
a Republican in his political affiliations, but he is not a
politician, since to him the study and practice of his pro-
fession is everything. He holds membership in many
social and professional clubs, but he is not a club man
for the same reason that he is not a politician.
M. W. Borders, one of the leading members of the
Chicago Bar Association, is general counsel for Nelson
Morris & Company, meat packers. His rise in the law
has been steady. He was born on a farm in Randolph
County, Illinois, May 9, 1867, the son of James J. and
Mary A. Borders. He was graduated from Monmouth
College in 1888 and began his study of law in the office
M. W. BORDERS.
of Keorner & Horher in Belleville, Illinois, and was
admitted to practice before the courts of the state in
1890. For the term of 1890-91 he attended the
Columbia Law School, New York City, and on July 15,
1891, he formed a law partnership with James M.
Hamill for the practice of his profession in Belleville.
This partnership continued for ten years.
Mr. Borders was city attorney of Belleville for two
terms, was master in chancery of St. Clair County two
years and occupied an enviable position in his general
practice. In April, 1903. he moved to Chicago to
become the general counsel for Nelson Morris &
Company.
Mr. Borders was married in February, 1892, to Miss
Alice Emma Abbey of Kirkwood. Illinois. He has four
sons, James, Melville, Edward and Horatio, aged
twelve, eight, ten and six years, respectively.
He is one of the prominent club men of the city,
being a member of the Elks, the Chicago Athletic, the
New Illinois Athletic, the Mid-day, the Iroquois and
the Colonial clubs.
JAMES J. GRAY.
James J. Gray, master in chancery and formerly pres-
ident of the board of Cook County assessors, is a native
of Chicago. Since his birth, November 23, 1862, he
has lived in the Twenty-first ward, on the North Side.
After obtaining an education in the Chicago public
schools and a business college, he secured a posi-
tion with the printing firm of J. M. W. Jones &
Co., remaining in their employ until 1893, when
he became deputy probate clerk, ' studying law in
the meantime. In 1895 he became one of the
deputies, being assigned to Judge Tuley's court as
minute clerk and record writer.
He was admitted to the bar in 1896, and a year later,
resigning his deputyship and associating himself with
M. J. Moran, he established the law firm of Gray &
Moran, with offices in the Ashland block.
In 1897 Mr. Gray was elected assessor of the north
THE CITY OP CHICAGO.
town in a rattling campaign, in which he ran 4,000 votes
ahead of the Democratic ticket. In his own ward he
received 900 more votes than Carter H. Harrison, the
mayoralty candidate. He was re-elected in 1898, and
the following spring he was made a member of the Cook
County board of assessors, serving with that body for
six years. He was president of the board during 1903
and 1904. He was re-nominated in the fall, but was
defeated in the Roosevelt landslide, in which, however,
he ran 40,000 ahead of Judge Parker in Cook County.
He was appointed master in chancery by the circuit
bench.
Mr. Gray is a member of the Chicago Athletic, the
Iroquois and the Germania Clubs and a number of fra-
ternal societies.
Charles McGavin, member of the National House of
Representatives for the Eighth Illinois district, is one of
the youngest men in Congress. His rise in politics has
CHARLES McGAVIN.
been rapid. \Yhen twenty years of age he lost his left
arm in a railroad accident, which decided him to abandon
a business career and study law. He has met with sig-
nal success.
Representative McGavin was born at Riverton, San-
gamon County, Illinois, June 10, 1874, being the young-
est of a family of ten children. He attended public
school at Springfield until eleven years of age, when he
went to make his home with a married sister at Mount
Olive, Illinois, his mother having died when he was but
six years old. At Mount Olive he attended the gram-
mar and high schools and there made the acquaintance
of Representative William A. Rodenberg of East St.
Louis, who at that time was principal of the Mount
Olive High School. At the age of fifteen he entered the
office of the Smithboro Coal Company at Smith1>oro,
Bond County, Illinois, as a clerk, his brother-in-law be-
ing interested in the firm. His sister's family, with
whomi he was living, removed to Springfield in 1890
and he went with them. For a short time he was em-
ployed with the Sangamon Coal Company and after-
ward became connected with the agency of the Dupont
Powder Company. The railroad accident in which he
lost his arm occurred in 1894, and as soon as he had re-
covered he decided to take up the study of law, and en-
tered the office of Orendorff & Patton as a clerk. Three
years of close application to law followed, and in 1897
he was admitted to the bar. Seeking a wider field, he
came to Chicago in 1899, where he has been a practic-
ing attorney ever since. Mr. McGavin always took an
active interest in politics, but it was not until 1903 that
he began to take a lead in the Republican ranks of the
Eighteenth ward. In this year he was nominated for
alderman, but, the Eighteenth ward being strongly
Democratic, he was defeated. The energetic campaign
he conducted at the time attracted much attention, and
in recognition of his ability he was appointed assistant
city attorney under John F. Smulski. In the fall of 1904
he was nominated for Congress in the Eighth district,
which is nominally a Democratic stronghold. Under
normal conditions it has been carried by the Democrats
by about 8,000 majority. Mr. McGavin made the most
energetic campaign, and not only overcame the Demo-
cratic majority but polled 7,000 additional votes. Mr.
McGavin is not married. He has offices in the Unity
building, Chicago. He took his seat in Congress at the
regular session, December, 1905.
Dr. Edwin Hartley Pratt, A. M., M. D., LL. D.,
illustrates by his life and achievements what may be
won by persistent and painstaking effort. Not only
is he one of the leaders in his chosen profession, but
also a diligent student of all that is best in literature
and the broader affairs of the world.
Dr. Pratt was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania,
November 6, 1849. He comes of a family whose names
are well known in the annals of medicine and surgery.
His father was the celebrated Dr. Leonard Pratt. His
mother, before her marriage, was Miss Betsey Belding,
and of English descent.
In recognition of his merit, and the great part he has
taken in advancing the science of medicine and surgery,
Dr. Pratt has had many honors conferred upon him.
The University of Chicago honored him with the degree
of Doctor of Laws in 1886. He received his master's
degree from the same institution in 1874. One year
TIH-. CITY OF CHICAGO.
263
previously be earned his doctor's degree at Hahnemann
Medical College of Chicago.
He is an honorary member of the Ohio Medical
Society, the Missouri Medical Society, the Kentucky
Medical Society and the Southern Association of Phy-
sicians. He is an active member of the Illinois State
Medical Association, the Chicago Academy of Med-
DR. EDWIN HARTLEY PRATT.
icine, the American Institute of Homeopathy, and
numerous less prominent medical organizations.
The science of orificial surgery is a triumph of Dr.
Pratt's scholarly and untiring efforts. He is the pioneer
in this branch of medical thought and is the author of
a handsomely illustrated volume on the subject which
has run into its fourth edition.
Lincoln Park Sanitarium was built for Dr. Pratt's
use, and was a mecca for a steadily increasing throng of
physicians seeking to master the principles of orificial
surgery. The patronage of the institution was large and
consisted of only the more advanced and best members
of the profession.
Dr. Pratt was married to Miss Charlotte Kelley,
February 26, 1900. Aside from his large and lucrative
practice, Dr. Pratt finds time to devote many spare
hours to the literature of the day. His library is one of
the finest private collections of books in Chicago.
In physique. Dr. Pratt is of a commanding stature —
six feet in height, weighing 250 pounds and finely pro-
portioned. His mentality shows the cheerfulness and
hopefulness of his celebrated father, and the energy,
courage and perseverance of his mother.
Alexander Hugh Ferguson, M. D., C. M., professor
of surgery in the Chicago Post-Graduate Medical School
and Hospital, was born in Ontario County, Canada,
February 27, 1853, the son of Alexander and Ann
(McFadyen) Ferguson, both natives of Scotland. He
received his education in the common schools, Rock-
wood Academy, Manitoba College, Toronto University
and Trinity Medical School, from which latter institu-
tion he was graduated in 1881. He received post-grad-
uate training in New York, Glasgow, London and
Berlin, where he took a thorough course in bacteriology
under the celebrated Professor Koch.
Dr. Ferguson began the practice of his profession in
Buffalo, New York, but in 1882 he went to Canada and
settled in Winnipeg, where, in the same year, he was
appointed registrar of the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons of Manitoba, and in the following year he took
a most active part in founding the Manitoba Medical
College, which has had a phenomenal success, and now
enjoys the name of being one of the high-grade medical
schools of Canada. He was professor of physiology and
histology in this institution for three years, and in 1886
he took the professorship of surgery upon the resigna-
ALEXANDER HUGH FERGUSON.
tion of Dr. James Kerr, who now holds a similar chair
in Columbia University, Washington, D. C. He was a
member of the staff of the Winnipeg General Hospital,
surgeon-in-chief to the St. Boniface Hospital, and also
the chief operator at Brandon and Morclon hospitals
in the same province. He was the first president of the
Manitoba branch of the British Medical Association,
and he was also appointed by the Governor as a member
TIUl CITY OF CHICAGO.
of the Provincial Board of Health. His connection
with the Manitoba Medical College covered a period of
eleven years, and he was identified with it, not alone
as registrar, but also as treasurer and a member of the
University Council. He enjoyed the respect and con-
fidence of the profession and people, as well as the loyal
devotion and veneration of his students, and when he
severed his connection with the Hospital of the Sisters
of Charity before leaving Canada to locate in Chicago,
his resignation \vas not accepted, in the hope that some
day he might return.
On December 18, 1893, Dr. Ferguson was offered
the chair of surgery in the Chicago Post-Graduate Med-
ical School and Hospital, and assumed his duties in
June, 1894. Since locating here his services have been
in great demand, and he now holds the position of sur-
geon to the Post-Graduate Hospital, surgeon-in-
chief to the Chicago Hospital, also surgeon to the Cook
County Hospital for the Insane, and consultant to the
Provident Hospital.
It has been as a teacher of surgery and as an opera-
tor that Dr. Ferguson has gained his wide reputation.
There is hardly a major operation on the body that he
has not performed. His work on Hydatids of the Liver
has been the most extensive of any man in America,
and was instrumental in first bringing him into notice.
He has successfully performed partial hepatectomy,
splenectomy, nephrectomies, craniectomies, thyroidec-
tomies, hip-joint amputations, excisions, thoracoplasty,
(Schede) cholecyst duodenostomies, appendicectomies,
etc., all of which would be too numerous to mention.
Suffice it to say that Dr. Ferguson has opened the abdo-
men over a thousand times. He was the first to use
Murphy's button to unite the duodenum to the stomach
after removing a cancerous pylorus, and he was also the
first to make an anastomosis with Murphy's button after
excision of a cancerous cecum, in both of which cases
he was successful.
The doctor has been an extensive contributor to the
medical press. It is only possible to mention a few of
his more important papers, among which are : Hyda-
tids of the Liver, Operative Treatment of Diseases
of the Gall Bladder, Pylorectomy in America, Tho-
racoplasty in America and Visceral Pleurectomy, with
Report of a Case, Typic and Atypic Operations for
the Radical Cure of Hernia.
Dr. Ferguson is recognized as one of the best sur-
geons in Chicago, and all his time is devoted to the
teaching and practice of surgery. He is a member
of the British Medical Association, International Medi-
cal Congress, American Medical Association, Chicago
Medical Society, Chicago Gynecological Society, the
Physicians' Club of Chicago, Chicago Surgical Society,
Military Tract Medical Association, Wayne County
Medical Society, and also a fellow of the Chicago
Academy of Medicine and of the American Association
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
In religion he is a Presbyterian. He is a member
of the Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, A. F. and
A. M., and other societies. He was married in 1882 to
Miss Thomas, daughter of the late Edward Thomas,
Esq., a wealthy pioneer of Nassagaweya, near Guelph,
Ontario, Canada. His family consists of two sons, Ivin
Havelock and Alexander Donald.
Dr. Trances Dickinson. The day was chill — frost
was in the air. Company shivered in the old-fashioned
parlor of Mrs. Thomas Church, and marveled at the
coatless, hatless little girl on the street. "Pity? Please
don't!" said Mrs. Church. "That little girl with the
bright eyes and long brown braids never wears hat nor
coat. She is the daughter of my neighbor, and 'neath
the front steps you will find she has hidden her wraps,
rolled in a bundle."
She was on her way to school, the old Dearborn
school, opposite McVicker's theater, where they used to
receive children at the age of five. At recess she was
most popular and in great demand by the boys; both
sides wanted her. She never 'could "bat," but she was
the very best shortstop catch.
Again we see her in front of her home (where Car-
son, Pirie, Scott & Company is now located) on Wabash
near Madison street, a happy, light-hearted, wholesome
girl, walking the new curbstone, one of the first the
city put down, and as she romped and played we noticed
the old-fashioned garden, with its flowers and its cab-
bages, and saw her sisters, Hannah and Melissa, and
her brothers, Albert. Charles and Nathan, come and
go. The little girl was Frances Dickinson.
To-day Dr. Frances Dickinson is one of the most
intelligent, industrious and successful women in the
city of Chicago. She was born in Chicago, January 19,
1856; graduated at the Central High School in 1875.
The next four years were spent as a teacher in our pub-
lic schools, but, finding the scope limited, and having
decided to enter the medical profession, she abandoned
her first work for the broader field. Accordingly, in
1880 Frances Dickinson matriculated at the Woman's
Medical College in Chicago, where she took the full
course and proved an earnest student, graduating in
1883.
She served as interne in the Women's and Children's
Hospital, under Dr. Mary Harris Thompson. Having
meanwhile resolved to make a specialty of ophthalmol-
ogy, she took the course in that branch at the Illinois
State Eye and Ear Infirmary, Chicago. In 1883 in Lon-
don Dr. Dickinson studied under the celebrated sur-
geon, Dr. Cooper, in the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital
at Moorfields, and also attended the ophthalmic clinics
at the Royal Free Hospital in Gray's Inn Road.
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
265
In Germany, at Darmstadt, she was for five months
under the private tutorship of Dr. Adolph Weber, who
had a large private clinic and hospital of sixty beds
attached to his home. This was the Dr. Weber to
whom Yon Graefe, the "father of ophthalmology,''
willed his instruments, and under so devoted a teacher
a daughter and two sons, both of whom became dis-
tinguished as physicians, and John, the elder, founded
the American branch of the family. He was born in
Hempstead, England, and sailed for America in the
ship Hercules, April 16, 1634.
Dr. Dickinson's brothers developed The Albert
she could hardly have failed to receive lasting benefit Dickinson Company of this city, which is the leading
and inspiration. firm dealing in grass seeds the world over. This unique
Dr. Dickinson is the leading woman practitioner in and extensive business further exemplifies the organiz-
her specialty in this country. At one time she enjoyed ing ability of the doctor's family,
the distinction of being the only woman engaged as
post-graduate instructor in ophthalmology, filling that
chair in the Chicago Post-Graduate School of Medicine.
Dr. Dickinson was the first woman to hold a large
down-town meeting for women, bringing the women
together to hear Mrs. Chant at Central Music Hall in
She is president of Harvey Medical College, where she 1889. She was also a party to the forming of the first
fills the chair of ophthalmology.
Dr. Dickinson is an active and honored member of
the City and State Medical societies and of the American
Medical Association, of the Chicago Ophthalmological
Society, the American Academy of Political and Social
Science and the Chicago Academy of Sciences. She
was the first woman received into the International
Medical Congress, in which she was admitted to mem-
bership at its ninth convention, held in 1887 at Wash-
ington, D. C. Since that year women have not been
denied membership, in spite of the fact that congresses
have been held in foreign cities, where women are not
allowed equal privileges with men at the universities.
Many of Dr. Dickinson's maternal ancestors were
physicians, and in the paternal line are found a number
of schoolmasters ; and in both lines we find them fre-
quently being honored with and honoring public office.
Her father, a man of broad character and wide sym-
pathies, was a prominent business man in Chicago for
many years. His wife, Ann Eliza Anthony, like him-
self, was a native of Massachusetts, a woman of strong
personality and the organizer of the First Society of
Friends in this city, and an aunt of the famous woman
suffragist, Susan B. Anthony.
The first of the Anthony family of whom there is any Union of Physicians, regardless of the pathies. They
DR. FRANCES DICKINSON.
mention is William Anthony, born in Cologne, Germany,
who came to England during the reign of Edward VI,
and was made chief graver of the royal mint and master
of the scales, continuing to hold office through the
reigns of that monarch and Mary and part of the reign
of Elizabeth. His crest and coat of arms are entered
in the royal enumeration. His son Derrick was the
father of Dr. Francis Anthony, born in London in 1550.
He graduated at Cambridge with the degree of Master
of Arts, and became famous as a physician and chemist,
but was intolerant of restraint and in continual con-
flict with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. He
died in his seventy-fourth year, and was buried in the
church of St. Bartholomew the Great, where his hand-
are now united on sanitation.
During the World's Fair, Dr. Dickinson was a
member of the Board of Lady Managers, and in con-
nection with Dr. Waite formed the first medical union
composed of women of the various schools of medicine
— the Illinois Medical Women's Sanitary Association —
which immediately sent Dr. Kate Bushnell, Dr. Alice
Ewing and, later. Dr. Rachel Hickey, to the scene of
the Johnstown disaster. They were the first on the
ground to commence the relief work, and remained
seven weeks in the prosecution of their noble purpose.
Dr. Dickinson is one of the most progressive women
of the day, one of the best known club women of Amer-
ica, as well as one of the leading oculists of this country,
some monument is still to be seen. Dr. Anthony left a woman who commands respect and holds attention.
L'66
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
Samuel W. Allerton has all the characteristics of the
New York Yankee. He is quick to conceive an idea,
cautious in determination of its value, resolute in its
accomplishment when once he has decided upon a course
of action, and it must also be said that he is public-
spirited as well as mindful of his personal welfare. Born
in Duchess County, New York, in 1829, of farmer par-
ents, and with only such advantages of education as
could be gained from the somewhat inefficient public
schools of the first half of the century, Mr. Allerton has
attained commercial, social and political distinction.
He is a director of the First National Bank and of the
Chicago City Railway Company and has large interests
in the principal stockyards of the United States. Mr.
SAMUEL W. ALLERTON.
Allerton has not achieved wealth by any gigantic specu-
lation ; he has built his fortune on the sure and honorable
foundation of industry, economy, sound judgment and
resolute action.
He worked on a farm until he was eighteen years of
age; then he began stock raising on his own account.
By the time he was twenty-one he had accumulated
nearly $5,000. That was nearly sixty years ago, and
sixty years ago $5,000 had a larger operative power
than it now has. With this capital Mr. Allerton pur-
chased a stock farm in Piatt County, Illinois. Yet even
then Chicago had its fascinations for Mr. Allerton. He
was a frequent visitor to the future metropolis, but
always with intent to sell or buy. He soon became
famous as a successful breeder and raiser of stock. His
farms increased in number and his flocks and herds in
value and magnitude. He also was a shrewd purchaser
of real estate in what was to be the great city of the
West. He was among the first to discern the needs
and uses and profits of stockyards as centers of the
cattle trade and was among the earliest and most active
promoters of the system. And thus, by the exercise of
strict industry, strict integrity and sound judgment, Mr.
Allerton has achieved rank among the millionaires of
the country.
But it is not alone as a financier that Mr. Allerton
is known and respected. His political acumen is as
remarkable as his commercial capacity. Few moves
are made on the Republican checker board of Illinois
without the knowledge of Mr. Allerton. He never has
sought office, but in 1893 the Republican nomination
for mayor literally was thrust upon him. He made a
gallant fight, but it was an "off year" for Republicans,
and that past master of political tactics, the late Carter
H. Harrison, defeated him. In the same year Mr. Aller-
ton rendered great service to the public as a member
of the World's Fair directory. Mr. Allerton has been
twice married. He has two children, Robert H. and
Katie R.
Frankin Harvey Head, a gentleman who has dem-
onstrated the compatibility of literary instinct and cul-
ture with business acumen, was born January 24, 1835,
at Paris, Oneida County, New York. His father, Harvey
Head, and his mother, who prior to her marriage was
Miss Calista Simons, came of families long resident in
the vicinity of Paris. Mr. F. H. Head received a sound
preparatory education at the Academy in Cazenovia,
New York, and afterward enrolled as a student in Ham-
ilton College, and was graduated as B. A. in 1856, and
received the degree of M. A. three years later. He was
also graduated from the law school of his alma mater in
1858, and subsequently was honored by it with the
degree of LL. D.
In 1858 Mr. Head settled in the West, and in con-
junction with his uncle, Mr. O. S. Head, founded the
law firm of O. S. & F. H. Head, at Kenosha, Wis-
consin. The firm continued in existence and enjoyed a
lucrative practice for about nine years, when Mr. F. H.
Head was compelled by failing health to retire from so
sedentary a business. After spending a time in Europe
he went to Utah and to California, in which states he
acquired proprietary interests in a cattle ranch and in
a mine. Supervision of their business occupied his atten-
tion, and was productive of profits for three or four
years, when, his health being restored, he returned to
what in those days were called "The States" by settlers
in the Far West, and entered into partnership with
Messrs. Wirt Dexter and N. K. Fairbank in the
manufacture of lumber and charcoal iron at Elk Rapids,
Michigan. While exercising a general supervision over
these large industries, Mr. Head made his home in
Evanston, Illinois, for several years. In the meantime
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
207
lie acquired interests in banking and manufacturing
enterprises in Chicago, of which city he became a per-
manent resident about ten years ago. Mr. Head served
for several years as president of the Chicago Malleable
Iron Company, and as director of the American Trust
and Savings Bank, and of the Northwestern National
FRANKLIN HARVEY HEAD.
Bank, in all of which institutions he retains a considera-
ble interest.
In addition to the successful management of numer-
ous business enterprises, Mr. Head has found time to
contribute many interesting articles on financial and
commercial questions to The Forum, the New England
Magazine, Current Topics and to other high-class peri-
odicals. Though actively Republican in politics, Mr.
Head never has aspired to office. He was, however,
intrusted by the national administration with the super-
intendency of Indian affairs while resident in Utah. He
has twice been president of the Union League Club, and
is a member of the Commercial, Chicago, University,
Literary and Quadrangle clubs. Mr. Head was married
in 1860 to Miss Catherine Putnam Durkee of Kenosha,
Wisconsin. There are three daughters. He has an ele-
gant home at No. 2. Banks street.
Jacob L. Loose, the organizer and first president
of the American Biscuit & Manufacturing Company
and a prominent figure in the western cracker and con-
fectionery trade, was born in Pennsylvania, June 17,
1850. At the age of ten he removed to Illinois with
his parents, who settled in Springfield, but the boy
was sent back to his native state to complete his educa-
tion. His first business experience was as a clerk in a
dry goods store in Decatur, Illinois. In 1870, together
with his elder brother, he established a store in southern
Kansas, on what was then the frontier. There he
remained until 1882, when he went to Kansas City and
engaged in the biscuit and confectionery business.
Before long he conceived the idea of consolidating
the western trade for mutual protection and advance-
ment and in competition with the New York Biscuit
Company of the Atlantic coast. The result was the
inception of the American Biscuit & Manufacturing
Company, with himself as its president. He held this
position for seven years, until ill health compelled him
to abandon business duties for some time. The forma-
tion of the American company was unique, inasmuch as
there was no common stock or outside capital used, no
promoter's fees paid or any "rake-offs" allowed. It was
singularly free from the stock jobbery that usually
accompanies such operations.
Mr. Loose traveled extensively in Europe and the
Orient until he regained his health. Since then he
has resumed his interest in the baking and confection
trade, being one of the ruling spirits of the Loose-Wiles
JACOB L. LOOSE.
Cracker & Candy Company of Kansas City, which
plant employs from a thousand to twelve hundred hands.
Mr. Loose is also largely interested in bakeries at
Minneapolis, St. Louis and Dallas, Texas.
Daniel Francis Crilly, one of Chicago's representa-
tive real estate men. and the man who is generally
spoken of as "the father of McKinley Park," was born
at Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, Octo-
ber 14, 1838. Mr. Crilly's parental grandfather was a
268
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
native of Ireland where the Crilly family is an old one.
A descendant of the Crillys is now a member of the
British parliament. Mr. Crilly's father was John D.
Crilly, editor of the Perry County Standard, published
at Bloomfield, Pennsylvania. Mr. Crilly was educated
in the common schools of Pennsylvania, and at the
age of seventeen he was indentured to John Wilson, a
contractor and mason. On the latter's removal to Iowa
City, Iowa, Mr. Crilly accompanied him in 1856. After
serving his apprenticeship young Crilly sought an open-
ing for his talent in Louisiana. He erected the exten-
sive buildings on the plantation of the Hon. Richard
Pugh, which were considered the finest of their kind
in those days. After perilous adventures during the
DANIEL FRANCIS CRILLY.
years of the war of the rebellion, Mr. Crilly reached
St. Louis and later Chicago. Here he spent his first
three winters as superintendent of the tank department
in the packing plant of Robert Law. His summers he
devoted to building. He erected the first Methodist
Church block, and many prominent down-town struc-
tures, steadily acquiring extensive real estate holdings.
He retired from the contracting business in 1878,
and has since devoted much of his time to the manage-
ment of his own property. He built all the residences
in Crilly place, on the North Side. He lost heavily in
the great fire, but regained it all and more by his energy,
integrity and indomitable perserverance. The "Crilly
Divisions" near the south end of Lincoln Park, are his
property, among other holdings, which comprise 141
flats, twelve residences and ten business buildings. He
also owns the old Stock Exchange building.
It is difficult to estimate what a city like Chicago
owes to such men as Mr. Crilly, who gave it the be-t
part of his life. His name stands for everything thai
represents solidity and morality. He was appointed
South Park commissioner by the Circuit Court in 1900
to fill the unexpired term of Commissioner Ellworth,
who took up his residence in New York. At the end
of this term Mr. Crilly was re-elected for a five years'
term. He filled the office of president of the commis-
sion for one term. It was on Mr. Crilly's suggestion
that McKinley Park was named after our martyr presi-
dent, and the handsome McKinley monument which
he unveiled July 4, 1905, is said to be to a large share
the donation of Mr. Crilly. He carried on the work
of the subscription for the balance of the required sum
for the purchase of the monument.
Mr. Crilly was married in London, Pennsylvania,
March 3, 1863. to Miss Elizabeth Snyder. He is the
father of six children, Erminnie, George S., Frank I,.,
Edgar, Isabelle and Oliver D. Mr. Crilly has been a
pew holder of the Plymouth Congregational Church
since it was built, and is now one of its trustees.
He is a member of the Hamilton Club, one of the
first-year members of the Union League Club, a member
of the Sheridan Club and a charter member of Home
Lodge, No. 508, Ancient and Accepted Masons. Mr.
Crilly has for years been treasurer of the Apollo Com-
mandery No. I, and is now a trustee. He is also promi-
nently connected with other lodges. He has been the
treasurer of the Knights Templar Charity Ball since its
organization, with the exception of one term. Mr.
Crilly has always been active in national and local poli-
tics and he was a member of the famous executive com-
mittee of the McKinley Club, which was organized by
the leading Republicans of Chicago.
John Sutphin Jones. In the ranks of the sound and
substantial business men of this land of opportunity are
many illustrations of success earned by sturdy and
honest endeavor, and wealth and position won by those
who started without any advantages beyond the com-
mon, and have worked their own way to the top. No
better example of self-earned success and prominence
in the business world can be cited than is afforded by
the career of Mr. John Sutphin Jones, now one of the
foremost coal operators of the country.
His parents, William R. and Elizabeth M. Jones,
were of Welsh birth, and from their native Montgom-
eryshire, in North Wales, came to the United States
in 1831. They settled on a farm in Fayette County,
near Washington Court House, Ohio, and it was there
that their son John was born January 4, 1849. He was
brought up on the farm and did his share of the farm
work while attending the neighboring schools, and
when he had absorbed the branches of knowledge pro-
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
26<>
vided by the common schools of the locality, he became
a telegraph operator for a year.
While so engaged he became impressed with the
opportunities of a railroad career, and determined to
fit himself for that service. He began as freight brake-
man and soon advanced to a conductor's position, first
JOHN SUTPHIN JONES.
on a freight train and later on a passenger train. From
that position to trainmaster and assistant superintend-
ent, and then by another step to superintendent, he ad-
vanced by faithful and efficient service. Leaving Ohio
he became division superintendent of the Milwaukee,
Lake Shore & Western Railroad in Wisconsin, holding
that position until 1889, when he resigned it to become
western manager of the Columbus & Hocking Valley
Coal & Iron Company, with offices at Chicago. He gave
efficient management to the large interests placed in
his hands by that company and supervised the erection
of several coal docks and after a while retired to estab-
lish the business of the Jones & Adams Company, oper-
ating coal docks at Ashland and West Superior, Wis-
consin and Duluth. Minnesota, with offices at St. Paul
and Minneapolis, and general offices in Chicago. The
company do a large jobbing business in coal, own and
operate coal mines in the Springfield and Danville
regions, and also in the Hocking Valley District in
Ohio. A chartering office for the shipment of the com-
pany's products to their docks on Lake Superior is
maintained at Cleveland. Of the business carried on by
this company, Mr. Jones is the principal owner, and he
is also president of the National Hocking Coal Com-
pany, which owns 40.000 acres of coal lands in Ohio. He
is connected also with the Buckeye Steamship Com-
pany, which owns several boats engaged in the coal
and iron trade on the Great Lakes.
These successive steps were each of them earned
by energetic methods and the application of practical
ideas to every undertaking in hand. Mr. Jones is
regarded as one of the foremost representatives of the
great mining industry of the Middle West. His suc-
cess has been rapid and continuous, and yet prosperity
such as he has enjoyed does not occur by accident.
Persistency in effort toward the achievement of his
plans has brought legitimate fruitage in a career that
has been continuously prosperous.
Mr. Jones was married at Granville, Licking County,
Ohio, October 22, 1884, to Miss Sarah F. Follett, only
daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Alfred Follett, and has added a
life of domestic happiness to a career of financial prosper-
ity. He has for years been identified with the Masonic
order and is a member of Apollo Commandery, Knights
Templar, and of Medinah Temple in the Ancient Arabic
Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is a member
of the Union League, Kenwood, Washington Park,
Mid-day and Midlothian Golf clubs, and is as popular
in his social relations as he is prominent in business life.
Mr. Jones and Mrs. Jones still retain the old house at
Granville, Ohio, as a summer home, and a farm to which
he is much devoted, now called Monomoy Place.
HOMER H. PETERS.
Homer M. Peters, who has been identified with
various enterprises since his coming to Chicago in Jan-
uary, 1889, is one of the city's substantial business men.
He is a native of Michigan, having been born at Scio,
270
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
that state, January 20, 1854. He is a graduate of Ann
Arbor.
For fifteen years Mr. Peters was a member of the
Chicago Board of Trade, being connected with the firm
of Bartlett, Frazier & Co.. now Bartlett. Frazier & Car-
rington. In 1903 he was made president of the Buffalo,
Dunkirk & Western Railroad Company (electric), to the
duties of which office he now devotes the major portion
of his time. He is also president of the Crescent Oil,
Asphalt & Gas Company. He is one of the most suc-
cessful business men of the city, arid is well and favor-
ably known by financial men not only in Chicago but
through the country generally, both east and west. He
is vice-president of the First National Bank of San
Diego, California, where he has a beautiful winter resi-
dence, considered one of the handsomest homes on the
Pacific coast. He also has a beautiful home at 5528
East End avenue, numbered among the finer residences
of the city.
Washington Porter is a fine representative of a class
much more numerous in Chicago and throughout the
United States than is suspected by the politicians and
professional traders in nationalities. He is of good Eng-
lish stock, both on the paternal and maternal side. The
family of Porter was known for full three hundred years
among the large landed proprietors of the English
County oi Norfolk, whence Thomas W. Porter, father
of Washington Porter, came to the United States in
1830. He married Miss Charlotte Lane, also of Eng-
lish birth. Mr. Thomas W. Porter, settled first in
Buffalo County, New York, in which place he engaged
actively in merchandising, but in a short time the heredi-
tary instinct for land owning and management of agri-
cultural affairs asserted itself, and he moved to Boone
County, in this state, and became a successful farmer
on a large scale. Washington Porter was born at the
Boone County homestead, October 26, 1846, and was
educated first in the public schools of the neighbor-
hood, and afterwards at the high school of Belvidere.
After some preliminary commercial experience in
the country, Mr. Washington Porter came to Chicago
in 1869. He was then twenty-three years of age, and,
true to the instincts of his family, began to exploit the
great fruit-growing resources of the Far West. Dur-
ing his first year of residence in this city he shipped
the first full carload of fruit that ever came to Chicago
from California. This was simultaneous with the open-
ing of the first transcontinental railway. At a later
period Mr. Porter furnished the money for the planting
of the first orchard and vineyard in Fresno County,
California. Fresno is now one of the great fruit-pro-
ducing regions of this continent, but in 1869 it took
men with such perseverance and courage as Mr. Porter
always had displayed in the management of business
affairs to promote what seemed to many a visionary-
project. In 1869 Mr. Porter also brought the first full
carload of bananas to Chicago from the Isthmus of
Darien, or Panama, as it is now generally called.
Mr. Porter maintained an active commercial interest in
the fruit trade between the Pacific States and the states
of Central America and Chicago, until his retirement
a few years ago from active business. He now enjoys
the ease and dignity of a large property owner, whose
fortune is the result of foresight, energy and honesty.
The public life of Mr. Porter has been of signal bene-
fit to the citizens of Chicago. He was one of the small,
resolute and brainy coterie to whose efforts the estab-
lishment of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chi-
WASHINGTON PORTER.
cago was due. He was a member of the committee
appointed to wait upon Congress with intent to secure
legislation favorable to Chicago, and from the first clay
of the session of 1890 until the passage of the act by
which the metropolis of the West was designated as the
place to which the eyes of the world should be turned
in 1893, as the center of the most wonderful exposition
ever made of the arts, sciences, agriculture and manu-
factures of all nations, Mr. Porter was incessant in argu-
ment with representatives and senators from all the
states. During the constructive period of the great
enterprise Mr. Porter was an active member of the
Ways and Means Committee, and when the great expo-
sition was an accomplished fact he was chairman of the
sub-committee of directors, under whose management
the first half-dollar souvenir coin was sold for the fabu-
lous sum of $10,000. He was also a member of the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
271
committee for reduction of expenditures, by the efforts
of which the running expenses of the great institution
were reduced from $23,000 to $15,000 per day. At the
close of the exposition Mr. Porter made strong efforts
to have the great Manufactures building removed from
the exposition grounds to the Lake Front, there to
remain as one of the attractions of the park that is tak-
ing the place of the old dreary waste of cinders that
used to stretch from Randolph to Twelfth street. The
destruction of the World's Fair buildings by fire ren-
dered the public-spirited plan of Mr. Porter nugatory.
It may be said, in passing, that Mr. Porter was among
the first, and probably absolutely the first, to advocate
and champion the permanent improvement of the Lake
Front into a spacious and elegant plaisance.
Mr. Porter has a good war record. He enlisted at
the age of sixteen years in the Ninety-fifth Illinois Vol-
unteers, and was in action at Champion Hill and at the
Siege of Vicksburg, participated in the Red River Expe-
dition and was seriously wounded in the affair at Guns-
town, Mississippi, June 10, 1864.
Mr. Porter is a Mason of high degree, a member of
the Washington Park and Athletic clubs, and of several
other social organizations. He married, June II, 1891,
Miss Frances Paulina Lee of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs.
Porter have three children, Paulina C., Washington and
Frederick C. Porter.
John George Shortall, son of John and Charlotte
(Towson) Shortall, was born at Dublin, Ireland, Sep-
tember 20, 1838. When he was between two and three
years of age his parents emigrated, with their family, to
this country, joining an elder branch that had been long
settled in New York City.
After the death of his parents, the subject of this
sketch was employed by the late Horace Greeley in
the editorial rooms of the New York Tribune, and here,
for the following three years, he was brought in close
contact with Mr. Greeley and other master minds who
molded the public opinion of the day. This period in
his life proved to be a period of education that he feels
he could in no way have dispensed with.
In the summer of 1854, following the advice of Mr.
Greeley, he came West, and located in Galena, Illinois,
where he was engaged for a short time upon the con-
struction and survey work of the Illinois Central Rail-
road, then building between that place and Scales
Mound. Late in the fall, however, he came to Chicago
and secured a position on the Chicago Tribune, but soon
afterward withdrew from the newspaper business to
enter the office of J. Mason Parker, where he took up
the study of real estate law and titles, a profession he
has followed to the present time. He is a member of
the Illinois bar. When Mr. Shortall entered this office
Mr. Parker was engaged in preparing the real estate
abstract books, afterward known as the Shortall &
Hoard Abstracts, and which are now the property of
the Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Chicago,
of which Mr. Shortall is a director.
At the time of the fire of 1871, the firm in which
Mr. Shortall was interested was one of the three ab-
stract firms in Chicago. Each saved a portion of its
records, but no one set was complete. A consolidation
was therefore effected between them, and Mr. Shortall
remained actively connected with his associates in the
conduct of the business until 1873.
Mr. Shortall has led an active life along other than
purely business lines. In musical, literary, educational
and social circles he has been especially active. For
JOHN GEORGE SHORTALL.
years he was one of the directors of the old Philhar-
monic Society, and afterward president of the old Bee-
thoven Society, during almost its entire existence. For
years also he was a director of the Chicago Public
Library, and served three terms as president of the
board. It was under his administration that plans for
the present superb Library building were selected and
that the negotiations were conducted which finally
secured Dearborn Park as the site for the erection of
the structure.
Along few lines of work, however, has the name of
Mr. Shortall become so widely known as through his
connection with the Illinois Humane Society. He was
one of the organizers of this commendable institution
in 1869, and in 1877 was chosen its president, a posi-
tion to which he has ever since been annually elected.
Mr. Shortall was also instrumental in the founding of
272
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
the American Humane Association in 1877, and was
elected its president in 1884, being re-elected in 1892,
and annually thenceforward to 1898, inclusive. At the
World's Fair he was chairman of the Men's Committee
on Moral and Social Reform of the Auxiliary Con-
gresses, and conducted the Humane Congress in Octo-
ber, 1893, which was so successful.
In social circles he is a member of the Chicago Club,
the Chicago Literary Club and the Reform Club of New
York. He is also an honorary member of the Amateur
Musical Club of Chicago and of the Pennsylvania
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He
was married September 5, 1861, to Miss Mary Dun-
ham Staples of Chicago, who died August 24, 1880,
leaving one child, John L. Shortall.
George E. Lincoln, general western manager for
the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, is one of the
best known men in the country among members of
the printing and publishing trade. From the time when
he completed his apprenticeship in Philadelphia until he
took up his permanent residence in Chicago in his
present position, he traveled through the United States
first as a journeyman printer and later as the represent-
ative of the Mergenthaler Company.
When the company opened a branch in Chicago on
January i, 1902, Mr. Lincoln was sent here to take
charge. At that time he had been with the company
longer than any other traveling man. Mr. Lincoln had
always urged strongly the opening of a Chicago branch
office and the fact that its monthly business is now
almost as great as that of the New York office is evi-
dence of his sound judgment.
Practically all of Mr. Lincoln's life has been spent
in various branches of the printing trade. He was
born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, September 2,
1848. When he was three years old the family moved
to a farm along the Pennsylvania pike, near Parkes-
burg, Chester County. Mr. Lincoln still makes it a
practice to spend several weeks each summer on the
old homestead. He left the farm when a boy and
started in as a printing apprentice at Ashmead's book
office in Philadelphia, the first establishment in the
United States to use a power press. He completed his
apprenticeship when twenty-one years old and suddenly
decided to come West. After his first trip to the West,
Mr. Lincoln traveled back and forth across the country
working as a printer in hundreds of towns and cities.
At one time he was part owner of the North Missouri
Courier of Hannibal and also proprietor of a brewery in
the same town. At another time he published a string
of Colorado mining town papers. Again he was a
plainsman with the J. & J. outfit. In 1880 Mr. Lin-
coln went on the road selling printing material. In
1886 he entered the employ of the Mergenthaler Lino-
type Company. In the first four years of that com-
pany's existence, on account of temerity of publishers
and violent opposition from printers, not a machine was
sold. The promoters spent $2,000,000 pushing the
invention before the printers realized that with its aid
they could make money easier and quicker than by set-
ting type by hand. Since then the sale of the machines
has been rapid. In the United States there are now
10,000 in 2,000 different offices. Though the matrices
GEORGE E. LINCOLN.
must be replaced, the machines never wear out and
Nos. 30, 31, 32 and others are still in use in the office
of the New Orleans Times-Democrat. The company
estimates that 20,000 more machines will be needed
before every office in the United States is supplied.
Matrices are manufactured for twenty-seven different
languages.
The Chicago branch was first located in small rooms
on Dearborn street, but so rapid was its growth that
it was soon moved to its present quarters in Steinway
Hall, 17 Van Buren street. From twenty-five to forty
new machines are shipped from this branch monthly.
More than 6,000,000 matrices of type sorts are kept
constantly in stock, besides the complete alphabets. The
office handles all of the territory between Pennsylvania
and Utah.
Mr. Lincoln is married, but has no children. He is
a member of the Chicago Athletic Association and the
Chicago Commercial Club and various fraternal organi-
zations.
Jacob Levi Kesner, in less than twenty years rose
from the position of cash boy to be general manager of
The Fair, one of the largest department stores in the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
273
world. Starting in October, 1887, as cash boy at $2.50
a week, he was advanced from time to time to bundle
wrapper, cashier, salesman, floorwalker, buyer, assistant
manager and then to head control of the entire business,
which position he has held since January i, 1895.
He was born in London, England, December 30,
1865, the son of L. J. and Sarah (Staal) Kesner. He
came to Chicago with his parents in boyhood and
received a common school education at the Scammon
and Haven schools. For a time he also attended busi-
ness college. Devoting himself conscientiously to
whatever task his employers set him to do, he soon won
their confidence and was rewarded by a consistent
advancement of position. In addition to his holdings
in The Fair, Mr. Kesner has other large interests. He
is president of the Strowger Automatic Telephone
exchange and other business organizations.
He was married in Chicago, August 30, 1887, to
Miss Bettie Frohman. They have one daughter, Lucile.
He is a member of Sinai congregation. Mr. Kesner
is a Republican in politics and belongs to the Hamilton
and Standard clubs. He has a beautiful residence at
4756 Grand boulevard.
Oscar f. Mayer, of the firm of O. F. Mayer &
Brother, came to Chicago from Detroit in 1876, and
began his successful career as an independent packer,
with his brother as business associate, on the present site
of the firm's plant at Sedgwick street and Beethoven
place. Its packing houses, refrigerating plant, smoke
houses and auxiliary premises, such as sausage houses,
pickling vats and shipping rooms, are said to be the best
18
equipped in Chicago. The products of Mayer &
Brother are well known throughout Illinois, Iowa and
Wisconsin, and have proven formidable in competition
with other provisions and "delikatessen."
The plant consists of two modern four-story build-
ings, with an aggregate floor space of 123,000 square
feet. The salesrooms on the main floor are the largest
on the North Side, and in direct communication with
the capacious freezing vaults and refrigerators. The
slaughter house, where all hogs for local sales as well
as shipment are slaughtered, is one of the most sani-
tary and best equipped in Chicago.
Oscar F. Mayer's brother, Godfried Mayer, is known
as one of the ablest buyers and connoisseurs of hogs,
sheep and cattle. Both members of the firm were prac-
tical butchers until the growth of their business com-
pelled them to take the parts of supervisors and
managers of their extensive trade and responsibilities.
A short time ago a complete set of the most up-to-date
machinery known to the provision trade was installed,
and the working force was increased 80 to 100 men on
the various killing floors, freezing vaults, cutting rooms
and other departments. Mr. Oscar F. Mayer is one of
the best known German-Americans in Chicago. He is
a prominent mason, a member of the Germania Club,
the Illinois Athletic Association, the Chicago Turn-
gemeinde, Chicago Schuetzenverein, an ardent hunter,
and a general sportsman.
Charles Enoch /Worrill, son of Amos and Sarah
(Eastman) Morrill, was born on a farm in East Kings-
ton, New Hampshire, January n, 1832. He was edu-
cated in the public schools of that district and at the
age of sixteen took up the trade of a shoemaker,
working two years at it. In 1850 he found better oppor-
tunities for his efforts in a country store at East
Kingston, and entered the place as a clerk, which store
he later on bought out.
In 1858 he was employed by the firm of Stimson,
Valentine & Company, manufacturers of varnishes and
paints, as a shipping clerk, which position he held for
four years. At the end of that time he was made a
traveling salesman, and in 1882 became manager of the
Chicago branch of the company. During the same year
he organized the Lawson Varnish Company, and was
made president of the concern. He maintained his con-
nection with Valentine & Company, however, and in
1898, when the two companies consolidated under the
name of Valentine & Company, he was made vice-pres-
ident of the consolidated company and two years later
was made president, which office he holds at the present
time. The concern is one of the largest varnish and
color Companies in the world, and has offices in New
York, Chicago, Boston, Paris, London and Amsterdam.
Mr. Morrill is a Democrat in politics and is a mem-
•JTI
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
her of the Union League and Washington Park clubs.
In 1857 he was married to Miss Adeline Susan Carter,
and has three children, Mr. Allan A. Morrill, Mrs. Susie
A. Cole and Mrs. Annie S. Hays. His residence is at
CHARLES ENOCH MORRILL.
275 East Fifty-third street, but much of his time is
spent at his summer home in New Hampshire.
Professor Theophilus Noel, founder and president of
the Theo. Noel Company, is a personality of remarkable
characteristics. From his boyhood days until the pres-
ent time the story of his experiences and adventures
reads like the pages of a popular and thrilling romance.
In commerce, politics and even in the literary history of
the nation he has taken a conspicuous and successful
place.
Professor Noel was born at Niles, Berrien County,
Michigan, in July, 1840. His father was the village
physician and a man of influence in the neighborhood.
Theophilus Noel was the youngest boy of the family,
and upon him devolved the duty of chief aid to his
father, first as messenger and eventually as assistant in
the medical practice. In these years of early training
under this stern and exacting parent were acquired the
habits of self-reliance and uprightness which form
a strong part of Professor Noel's character.
In September, 1853, the elder Noel sold his Michi-
gan farm and started with his family for Texas. Though
at the time Professor Noel was only twelve years of age,
every detail of that transaction and the incidents of the
long trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans and
across the country to Seguin, Texas, is still vivid in his
memory.
That part of the country was then a wild and only
sparsely settled section of the frontier. Here Theophilus
Noel educated himself. His text books were Cobb's
Speller, Pike's Arithmetic and Webster's Elementary
Spelling Book. The first book he ever read was the
Life of Washington, and from it was acquired much of
his hatred of monarchs and despots and his love for the
free born, independent and sterling American citizen.
When the Civil War broke out, young Noel was
naturally found on the side of the Confederacy. His
frontier experience stood him in good stead and, as a
Texas Ranger, he took a prominent part in the field,
while in the affairs of state of the "lost cause" his shrewd
business judgment was often of value. After the war
Mr. Noel was one of the foremost ones in helping to
heal its scars and bring about a better feeling of har-
mony between the North and South. He helped to
organize the Confederate veterans of Chicago, and was
a warm personal friend of Generals Grant and Logan.
Professor Noel has been interested in many note-
worthy commercial ventures. His first was the placing
of a superior grade of cotton seed on the market. Next
came the introduction to the fruit world of the famous
Alberta peach. But the greatest was the discovery of
Vitae-ore. Professor Noel recognized the medicinal
properties of the mineral, and organized the corporation
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS NOEL.
which bears his name, for the purpose of putting these
properties in such form as to be valuable to mankind.
In his spare moments during travel or rest he has
found time to prepare a comprehensive autobiography
covering every detail of his life from babyhood to the
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
275
present time. It is one of the most novel and interest-
ing books one would care to read. Full of the strong
philosophy and hard common sense of the author, it is
highly appreciated by his friends who have been so
fortunate as to receive a copy.
Charles A. Plamondon is one of Chicago's leading
business men and public-spirited citizens. He has twice
held public office, but in each case the office called for
great sacrifice on his part and for the qualities of public
spirit that he possesses. As a member of the Chicago
Public Library Board for four years, he gave the devo-
tion to his work which is often most required in posi-
tions that are the farthest removed from the limelight.
For a year he was president of the board. While Mr.
CHARLES A. PLAMONDON.
Plamondon was a member of the library board many
of the important innovations and improvements in its
management were inaugurated and it was through his
energy that many of them were put into use.
Mr. Plamondon has for four years been a member
of the Board of Education. For one year he was vice-
president of the board and at another time was a promi-
nent candidate for president. In this capacity, too, his
work has been tireless. In many respects the work of
the board of education is the most important in the life
of the city. In all the perplexing problems of educa-
tion and finance that have come before the body, Mr.
Plamondon has shown an enthusiasm and a grasp of
general educational and business conditions that have
made him one of the leading factors.
As a business man, Mr. Plamondon has been known
mostly through his connection with the A. Plamondon
Manufacturing Company, founded by his father during
the early days of the city. He entered the employ of
his father in 1872, then a boy of 16. When his father
died, February 19, 1896, he was made head of the com-
pany and has held that position since. He is also vice-
president of the Saladin Pneumatic Malting Construc-
tion Company and a director of the Fort Dearborn
National Bank. He has also been a director of the Illi-
nois Manufacturers' Association and was president of
that organization for a year.
In May, 1900, following the sinking of the Spanish
fleet in Manila Bay, Mr. Plamondon was made chair-
man of the reception committee during the Dewey
celebration. In 1903 he was chairman of the Chicago
Centennial Committee, which conducted the celebra-
tion of Chicago's looth anniversary, or the settling of
the first 'white man in the city.
Mr. Plamondon was born at Ottawa, Illinois, Sep-
tember 14, 1856. Shortly after his birth his family moved
to Chicago-. He was sent to the Chicago public schools
where he received the major portion of his education.
In social circles Mr. Plamondon has taken a leading
part and is one of the best known men in the city. He
is a member of the Chicago Athletic Association, the
German Mannerchor and the Washington Park Club.
Charles L. Bartlett is a comparatively recent addi-
tion to the coterie of progressive western business men
who have made the name of Chicago synonymous with
enterprise and success. The earlier years of Mr. Bart-
lett's business career were passed in the East and he
came to Chicago as local manager of the Procter &
Gamble Distributing Company only ten years ago.
At present Mr. Bartlett is Chicago manager for this
great soap company, and also president and controlling
factor in the organization of the Orangeine Chemical
Company.
Mr. Bartlett was born at Fishkill-on-the-Hudson,
November 13, 1853. Shortly afterwards his family
moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he received his
earlier education. After being graduated from the high
school of that city he entered Yale University. He
received his college degree as a member of the famous
Yale class of 1876. The first business experience of
Mr. Bartlett, after his college days, was in the actuarial
department of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance
Company of Hartford. He left this position in 1880 to
start in the brokerage business at Utica, New York.
In this he was financially successful, but after ten years'
experience became disgusted with the fundamental
principles of the business and decided to withdraw from
all speculative ventures. In 1890 he sold his interests
in order to associate himself with the business of the
Procter & Gamble Company.
He was at once made manager of the New York
State interests of the concern. So marked was his sue-
L'76
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
cess in this position that when the firm cast about for a
progressive manager of the Chicago office of the
Procter & Gamble Distributing Company, Mr. Bart-
lett was sent west in 1895.
In 1899 Mr. Bartlett started the business of the
Orangeine Chemical Company, which has now grown to
world-wide proportions. He has been the president of
CHARLES L. BARTLETT.
the corporation since its inception. One day when
physically depressed, Mr. Bartlett happened to meet
his friend, William Gillette, the playright and actor.
Gillette gave him a powder which he always carried
for such occasions, and Mr. Bartlett tried it with unex-
pected relief. After further test of the remedy for
fatigue, colds, headaches and minor ailments, the
Orangeine powder became a factor for both his house-
hold and staff of employees. So accurate and invariable
were the results in the saving of time and strength from
pain and sickness, that Mr. Bartlett decided to extend
the Orangeine prescription for public usefulness, and
from tTiis decision has resulted its present wide sale and
appreciation.
The Hamilton National Bank, 80 La Salle street,
was founded in 1903, with Mr. Bartlett's cooperation.
He has been one of the directors of the financial institu-
tion since its organization. Mr. Bartlett is an entertain-
ing conversationalist, of a sociable nature and a member
of many clubs. In Chicago he is a member of the
University Club, the Chicago Club, the Saddle and
Cycle Club, the Omventsia Club and the Merchants'
Club.
Robert M. Simon, former recorder of deeds for
Cook County and now a member of the State Board of
Equalization from the Tenth Congressional district,
was born on the North Side, February 17. 1866. He is
the son of Simon Simon, one of Chicago's most
respected citizens. After attending the public schools
and graduating from the Lake View High School in
the class of 1883, he went to work. He took an inter-
est in politics from the start and soon became an able
worker in the Republican party.
Mr. Simon in 1894 was elected collector of Lake
View by the largest plurality ever received by a Repub-
lican candidate for that office. He was chosen recorder
of deeds in 1896 and was re-elected in 1900. Between
1896 and 1900 Mr. Simon was secretary of the Cook
County Republican Central Committee, an office to
which he was duly elected in 1898. He has repeatedly
headed the delegations from his district in Republican
conventions. Few men in politics enjoy the confidence
of his fellow party leaders as does Mr. Simon, his most
distinguished characteristic being his stanch loyalty
to his friends. Honesty and economy have been the
predominating factors of Mr. Simon's regime as an
ROBERT M. SIMON.
office holder and he has filled the positions of trust to
which he has been repeatedly elected to the satisfaction
of the public. He inaugurated many reforms and intro-
duced systems by which the work of his departments
was greatly facilitated. The Torrens law became oper-
ative during his incumbency.
Mr. Simon married Miss Nellie Frances Ceperly and
resides at 2561 North Ashland avenue, Ravenswood. He
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
277
is a leading spirit in social as well as political affairs in
the district and was a founder of the Ravenswood His-
torical Society and Public Library. He is a contributor
to many other public enterprises. In addition to being a
Royal Arch Mason, Mr. Simon is a prominent member
of many fraternal organizations, including the Royal
League, National Union, Chicago Athletic Club, Ham-
ilton Club, Ravenswood Club and Ravenswood Whist
Club.
Charles J. Happel, Under the administration -of
Warden Charles J. Happel the two most important
additions to the county hospital have been built and
the daily average of patients has increased 150
owing to the growing confidence of the people in the
CHARLES J. HAPPEL.
institution. The new additions consist of an annex for
children and a separate building for contagious diseases.
The children's hospital is the only institution of the
kind in Chicago and it owes its existence largely to the
efforts of Warden Happel.
Mr. Happel first became connected with the county
hospital in 1895, when he was appointed warden.
Owing to the defeat of Mayor Swift's faction in the
Republican party the following year Mr. Happel was
superseded in the position, and was given the position
of assistant superintendent of water-pipe extension by
the mayor. In 1897 and 1898 he was superintendent
of Douglas Park and in 1899 and 1900 was elected
county commissioner.
When Daniel D. Healy was made warden of the
county hospital in 1901 Mr. Happel was appointed
assistant warden, and when Mr. Healy resigned the
position to accept the Republican nomination for sheriff
in 1902 Mr. Happel succeeded him, taking the position
in August of that year. Mr. Happel soon after began
to advocate the construction of a separate building for
contagious diseases. Last year his plans were realized
in the construction of a building costing $120,000, with
beds for one hundred and fifty patients, completely
isolated from the other hospital buildings. Mr. Happel
also urged the building of a hospital where the children
of the poor could have expert medical attention and
nursing. In 1904 a building was erected which was
opened in 1905, which provides one hundred and thirty
beds for the little folk, who may be suffering from dis-
ease. The building cost $80,000, and contains all the
modern appliances for the treatment, care and amuse-
ment of the small patients. These new buildings added
300 beds to the capacity of the hospital, increasing the
number from 950 to 1,250.
Under Mr. Happel's administration the county
hospital has become a popular sanitarium for the sick
in moderate circumstances. In prior years the hospital
was regarded with something akin to dread by the
unfortunates who were compelled to go there. This
feeling has worn away, and the institution is now
eagerly sought as offering the best medical attention
under the best sanitary conditions.
Mr. Happel was born in Chicago January 27, 1857-
He obtained his education in the public schools and
started in business in 1875 as a cigar manufacturer. He
continued in the business until 1892. He had taken
an interest in politics and his first political reward was
the appointment as county agent in 1894. He served
a year in this position, at the end of which he was
appointed warden the first time.
Mr. Happel is married and has two children, Fred
and Etta. He is a member of Herder Lodge A. F. &
A. M., and other societies.
Thomas E. Barrett, sheriff of Cook County, was
born in Chicago, on the north side of the river, obtained
his education at the old Kinzie school at Ohio street
and La Salle avenue, and, except the eight months he
worked in a coal mine in Pennsylvania, has lived con-
tinuously in the north division of the city. More than
sixty years ago Anthony and Rose Barrett, parents of
Sheriff Barrett, came to Chicago, and took up their
residence at the corner of Market and Erie streets,
where the subject of this sketch was born April
30, 1863.
When Young Barrett was in his ninth year the fire
of 1871 destroyed the Barrett home, and the future
sheriff started out to help repair the family fortunes by
going to work in a coal mine at Tnkerman, Pennsylva-
nia. He found the task of picking slate out of coal
uncongenial, and at the end of eight months returned
278
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
to Chicago, where he got a job as errand boy with
Field, Leiter & Co., but soon after entered the messen-
ger service of the American District Telegraph Com-
pany. His real business career began, however, when
he became a messenger boy for Brown, Fleming & Co.,
a board of trade firm, with which he remained for
twenty-eight years.
In 1887 Mr. Barrett entered the brokerage firm of
Boyden & Co., with which he remained until the death
of Mr. Boyden, in 1894 or 1895, when the firm name
was changed to J. F. Barrett & Co., which consisted of
John, Tom and Tony Barrett. A few years afterward
the firm name was changed to Barrett, Farnum & Co.,
which did business two and one-half years. On the dis-
THOMAS E. BARRETT.
solution of the firm, Mr. Barrett went into the grain
brokerage business for himself, and was engaged in it
when elected sheriff.
Sheriff Barrett has always been interested in sports,
especially baseball and boxing, though handball, horse
racing and other outdoor amusements have received a
great deal of his attention. In 1880 he organized the old
Whiting Baseball Club, which achieved a high reputa-
tion in amateur baseball circles. Mr. Barrett was one of
the organizers, and was at the head of the city baseball
league for fourteen years. He is still a liberal patron
of the amateur as well as professional exhibitions of
the national game.
As an amateur boxer, Mr. Barrett was for many
years the idol of the Board of Trade and other local
patrons of the pugilistic art. He met al! the leading
amateurs of his class in the West, and at a tournament
in the old Athenaeum gymnasium in March, 1887, won
the middle-weight amateur championship of Illinois, in
a contest with Frank Rheims. This victory satisfied
his pugilistic ambition, and the following August he
married and retired from the ring.
In later years Mr. Barrett owned and managed an
extensive racing stable of runners and trotters, but a
few years before his election as sheriff he disposed of
his horses and gave up the turf. He has never ceased,
however, to take an interest in racing as a sport.
Sheriff Barrett has always been a Democrat, and
taken an active interest in politics. He was never a
candidate for office until he was nominated for sheriff
by the Democrats in 1902, when he was the only man
on the Democratic County ticket elected. Except the
candidate for sheriff all the Republicans on the county
ticket were elected by pluralities ranging from 5,000
to 15,000, while Mr. Barrett defeated Daniel D. Healy,
the Republican candidate, by nearly 7,000 plurality.
In August, 1887, Mr. Barrett married Miss Ellen
McCoy. They have one child, a daughter, Josephine,
now sixteen years old. Mr. Barrett lives in Ravens-
wood, in the twenty-sixth ward.
Francis O'Neill, chief of police of Chicago, is a type
of officer of the old school. He rose from the ranks as
a result of his strict attention to duty, his bravery and
ability as a thief-catcher. Fearless and energetic his
name stands without stain or reproach.
Born of Irish parentage in Tralibane, three miles
from Bantry, County Cork, Ireland, on August 28,
1849, Francis O'Neill secured in the national school
of Bantry a thoroughly sound education on all general
subjects, including the classics. His father was an edu- '
cated and well-to-do farmer, while his mother was one
of the O'Mahoney's, an influential and historic name in
the province of Munster.
Francis O'Neill was a bright boy, an omnivorous
reader, an ardent student, and so distinguished himself
in mathematics as to be named by his teacher, "Philoso-
pher O'Neill." He was senior member of his class at
fourteen years of age.
When barely sixteen and with the limited capital of
five dollars he left home and started out in the world
to seek his own fortune. He was advised to become a
Christian Brother or a teacher in one of the Catholic
schools. To having missed an appointment with Bishop
Delaney of the City of Cork he attributes his failure to
become a monk. He worked his way to Sunderland
in the north of England in March, 1865, and after vari-
ous vicissitudes shipped there as a cabin boy, sailing up
the Mediterranean and via the Dardanelles, the Bos-
phorus and the Black Sea to Odessa, the great southern
port of Russia. An accident in which he fractured his
skull occurred during his return trip to Sunderland. He
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
279
next shipped to Alexandria, Egypt, where he remained
nine weeks. During the course of the voyage he
saved the boatswain from drowning, but received
ill treatment instead of reward during the balance of
the trip. He had some very interesting experiences in
subsequent voyages, and finally shipped for New York
at Liverpool in July, 1866, from which point he sailed
to Santa Cruz, the West Indies, and many places in
South America, returning to New York. He left for
Japan on the "Minnehaha" of Boston a few months
later and reached his destination after seven months of
interesting and exciting experiences.
Ten weeks later the journey was resumed to Hono-
lulu, Sandwich Islands, from where he went to Baker's
Island in the Southern Pacific, where the vessel was
wrecked entailing great loss and suffering.
After eleven days on this coral island the crew was
picked up by a passing ship. The sailors were fed on one
and one-half biscuits daily with a pint of unsweetened
black tea for thirty-four days and landed at Honolulu.
All, with the exception of three, Mr. O'Neill being one,
were sent to the hospital. Mr. O'Neill's skill as a
musician proved a valuable accomplishment on the
voyage. Among the Kanaka crew of the rescuing
vessel was a man who had evidently met the missionaries,
for he could play one hymn fairly well on a concert
flute. Mr. O'Neill being an expert on the instrument
found a warm friend, and he was favored with a share
of the Kanaka sailor's rations. For this reason Mr.
O'Neill says he did not go to the hospital.
Arriving at San Francisco some months later, Mr.
O'Neill decided on a change of occupation, hiring
out as a care-taker of sheep. He was engaged for
five months in the Sierra Nevada mountains in this
capacity and then returned to New York, via Cape
Horn, after a few weeks' stay at Culiacan on the west
coast of Mexico.
After circumnavigating the globe before his twenty-
first birthday, he decided to settle down and came
westward, having saved a few hundred dollars, to estab-
lish a home. He settled at Eclina, Knox County, Mis-
souri, where he passed the examination necessary to
obtain employment as a teacher in the district school
during the winter of 1869.
He came to Chicago the spring of the following
year and found employment on the lakes until the
close of navigation that year. He married Miss Anna
Rogers at Bloomington, Illinois, in 1870.
Chief O'Neill returned to Chicago in 1871 and
found employment with the Chicago & Alton Railroad
as laborer in the freight house. Promotion followed
promotion, but the work being arduous and the remu-
neration small, he decided to try for a position on the
police force. Having received his appointment under
Elmer Washburne, he was sworn in on July 12, 1873,
and assigned to the Harrison Street Station under Cap-
tain Buckley. He was shot the following month in an
encounter with a burglar and still carries a memento
of the episode in a bullet which penetrated his left
breast and became encysted near the spine. By the
unanimous vote of the police board he was advanced
on the following day to regular patrolman on account
of his bravery. In August, 1878, he was made police
sergeant and transferred to the Deering Street Station.
He was moved to the general superintendent's office
by Chief of Police Doyle in 1884 and was advanced to
patrol sergeant on January i, 1887.
Three years later he was advanced to lieutenant, and,
at his own request, Chief of Police Maj. R. W.
FRANCIS O'NEILL.
McClaughry transferred him to the Tenth Precinct at
Hyde Park, where he remained until recalled to Harri-
son Street Station by Chief of Police Brennan in July,
1893. The latter made him his private secretary the
following month and he was promoted to captain and
assigned in charge of the Eighth District, the Union
Stock Yards, on April 17, 1894. Labor troubles and
the memorable railroad strike of 1894 gave Captain
O'Neill opportunity for new laurels and he personally
directed his men against the disturbers, notwithstanding
the attack of five thousand strikers thoroughly enraged
by the state militia's action.
Chief of Police Brennan made public acknowledge-
ment that in his opinion Captain O'Neill's command
was deserving of the greatest credit in the strike trouble.
Since that time Mr. O'Neill has risen rapidly in the
280
THE CITY OF CHICAGO.
police department until he finally headed that institu-
tion, realizing his ambition. Chief O'Neill was a
stickler on discipline, and after his elevation to the
head of the department did more toward establishing a
clean, wholesome and thoroughly reliable force than
any of his predecessors had ever accomplished.
Chief O'Neill is the father of ten children, five
daughters and five sons. Four daughters and four
sons are now living. His youngest son, Rogers F., a
collegian of much promise, died in 1904. Chief O'Neill
is the only member in Chicago of the Cork Historical
and Archaeological Society. He belongs to no secret
organizations, but is a member of the Police Benevo-
lent Association. He is a keen business man and during
his adventurous days in the police department he man-
aged to invest his savings in real estate at much profit
and a good income. His student mind and delight in
reading have found an outcome in a well-stocked library,
in which are quite seven hundred volumes devoted to
Ireland and Irish subjects, many of them being
extremely rare and valuable editions. One of the tangi-
ble results of his studies and research is the publica-
tion of a large quarto volume of the melodies of his
native land entitled, The Music of Ireland. Nothing
at all comparable to it has ever appeared in print and
the demand for it in Ireland and Australia is as great as
in America.
Chief O'Neill has served the city of Chicago in its
police department longer than any man who ever
became chief of police and has served in the office
longer than any of his predecessors, excepting the late
Joseph Kipley.
X
4
/.
V
•-
"•
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Inter Ocean Building 2
Survey of Chicago, 1830 12
View of Chicago, 1820 14
Fort Dearborn, 1853 16
City Hall 17
U. S. Government Building 19
Columbus Memorial Building 20
Great Northern Building 21
Floral Display 23
Stock Exchange Building 26
Auditorium Building 36
Chicago Savings Bank 37
Masonic Temple 46
Water Works 48
Western Union Building 52
International Harvester Company 58
Armour Institute 59
Public Library 62
Newberry Library : 63
Art Institute 66
Bedford Building 69
Marquette Building 80
Reaper Block 83
Monadnock Block 87
Chicago & Northwestern Depot 94
Map Northwestern Railway 95
Map Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway 96
Illinois Central Depot 97
Illinois Central Map 98
Grand Central Passenger Station 100
Map Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad 103
La Salle Street Depot 104
Polk Street Depot 106
Pullman Building 107
Map Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad 115
First National Bank 122
Continental National Bank 124
Chicago National Bank 125
Commercial National Bank 126
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank 128
Merchants' Loan and Trust Company 129
I'AGE
American Trust and Savings Bank 130
Northern Trust Company 131
National Life Building 138
Board of Trade 142
Armour & Co.'s Plant 151
Armour & Co.'s Grain Elevators 153
Swift & Co.'s Plant 154
Old Myrick Stock Yards : . . . 155
Libby, McNeill & Libby's Plant 156
Miller & Hart Plant 159
Iroquois Iron Company's Plant 164
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge 165, 166
Hicks Locomotive and Car Works 169
Cummings Car Company's Plant 171
Chicago Bridge and Iron W'orks 172
Automatic Electric Company 174
Corn Products Plant 1 79
Marshall Field & Co.'s Wholesale Store 182
Marshall Field & Co.'s Retail Store 184
Gage Bros. & Co 186
Spaulding & Co 187
E. L. Mansur Company 188
George M. Clark Company 189
Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company 190
Peter Reinberg's Plant 193
Chicago Edison Company 195
Commonwealth Electric Company 197
People's Gas Light & Coke Company 198
Chicago Telephone Company 200
Illinois Tunnel Company 202
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company 224
Palmer House 229
Auditorium Hotel 230
Great Northern Hotel 231
Hotel Majestic 232
Bush Temple 244
Douglas Park 30, 39, 60, 84, 92, 160
Garfield Park 10, 34, 45, 54, 56, 73, 74. 91. 117, 149, 180
Humboldt Park 25, 29, 44, 64
Union Park 70, 76
West Chicago Parks 6, 75
281
INDEX.
PAGE
PREFATORY 5
CHAPTER I — CHICAGO'S FIRST CENTURY 7
CHAPTER II — THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 9
CHAPTER III— EARLY CHICAGO 11
CHAPTER IV — THE GROWTH AND MAYORS OF CHICAGO 24
THE MAYORS OF CHICAGO 28
CHAPTER V— CHICAGO IN WAR 35
CHAPTER VI— CHICAGO'S GREAT FIRE DISASTERS 38
CHAPTER VII — THE COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION 41
CHAPTER VIII — THE ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CANAL 43
CHAPTER IX— CHICAGO'S WATER SYSTEM 47
CHAPTER X— THE DRAINAGE CANAL 51
CHAPTER XI— CHICAGO'S PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM 55
CHAPTER XII— CHICAGO'S LIBRARIES 61
CHAPTER XIII— CHICAGO AS AN ART CENTER 65
CHAPTER XIV— CHURCHES OF CHICAGO 68
CHAPTER XV— CHICAGO PARKS 71
CHAPTER XVI— NEWSPAPERS 78
CHAPTER XVII— CHICAGO'S CHARITIES 86
CHAPTER XVIII— CHICAGO'S RAILROAD SYSTEMS 89
CHAPTER XIX— BANKS OF CHICAGO 116
CHAPTER XX— BOARD OF TRADE 141
CHAPTER XXI — CHICAGO CATTLE MARKET OF THE WORLD... 150
CHAPTER XXII— MANUFACTURING INTERESTS 161
CHAPTER XXIII— CHICAGO'S BUSINESS INTERESTS 181
CHAPTER XXIV— PROMINENT MEN, PAST AND PRESENT 233
Aldrich, Charles H 253
Allerton, Samuel W 266
American Trust and Savings Bank i.?°
Armour Institute 59
Armour, M. C 163, 164
Armour, Philip D 237
Armour & Co 152
Arnold, Bion J 214
Auditorium Hotel 230
Automatic Electric Company 174, 175
Bailey, Edward W 148
Ballon, A. P 134
Banks, Alexander F 109
Banning, Ephraim 250
Barrett, Thomas E 277
Bartlett, Charles L 275
Belt Railway Company of Chicago 105
Bensinger, Moses 189, 190
Bird, A. C 108
Blakely, C. F 192
Blakely Printing Company 192
Blome, Rudolph S 228
Bogle, W. S 204
Borders, M. W 261
Boyles, Charles D 146
Brown, Paul 258
Browning, Granville W 257
Brundage, Edward J 259
PAGE
Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company 190
Bush, William H 243
Bushnell, Henry D 178
Brock, A. J 194
Brock & Rankin 194
Byllesby, Henry M 217
Cable, The Company 175, 176
Cameron, Dwight F 114
Chicago Bridge & Iron Works 172
Chicago Edison Company 194-196
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company 96
Chicago National Bank 124-126
Chicago Telephone Company 200
Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad Company 99-101
Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad 102-104
Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railroad, The 114
Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company 9.3-95
Chicago & Western Indiana Railway 105
Clark, George M 189
Clark, George M., Company 189
Commercial National Bank 126
Commonwealth Electric Company 196-198
Cooley, Lyman E 216
Continental National Bank 123, 124
Corn Products Company 179
Cudahy, John 147
Cummings, John J 171
Crilly, Daniel F 267, 268
Davis, Reginald J., Company 226
Delihant, W. T 208
Dickinson, Albert 144
Dickinson, Charles 145
Dickinson, Dr. Frances 264
Dickinson, Nathan 145
Dickinson, The Albert, Company 144
Dunne, Hon. Edward F 33
Emmerich, Charles 243
Ewen, John M 211
Faithorn, John N 101
Farwell, John V., Sr 246, 247
Federal Life Insurance Company 137
Ferguson, Dr. Alexander H 263
Fetzer, John C 109, no
Field, Marshall, & Co 181-185
Fiero, Albert W 213
First National Bank 122
Fitzgerald, Richard no
Forrest, W. S 256
Forsyth, Jacob 246
Fraser, David R 240
Greenebaum, Elias 133
Greenebaum, Henry E 133
Greenebaum, James E 133
Greenebaum, Moses E 133
282
INDEX.
Us:!
Greenebaum Sons 133
Gage Bros. & Co 186
Galian, Thomas 242
Goodrich, Adams A 254
Gray, James J 261
Great Northern Hotel 231
Gurley, W. W 252
Hamilton, Isaac M 137
Hammond, R. R 206
Happel, Charles J 277
Harris, N. W., & Co 132
Head, Franklin H 266
Heyworth, James 0 218
Hicks, F. M., Company 169, 170
Hogan, Thomas S 258
Hopkins, Albert J 255
Hotel Majestic ;• 232
Hoyt, Howard H 136
Hudson, T. J., Jr 208
Hughitt, Marvin 95
Hunt, Robert W 213
Hunt, Robert W., & Co 212
Illinois Brick Company 221
Illinois Central Railroad 97
Illinois Trust and Savings Bank 127, 128
Illinois Tunnel Company 201
Inter Ocean, The 82
Iroquois Iron Company 163, 164
Irwin, Charles D 147
Irwin, Green & Co 146
Jackson, George W 203
Jackson, W. J 105
Jennings, J. Elliott 140
Jones, John S 268
Kesner, Jacob L 272
Kohler Bros 218
Lake, William H 149
La Salle County Carbon Coal Company 207
Lemmon, T. A 267
Lenehan, Joseph H 139, 140
Libby, McNeill & Libby 156
Lincoln, George E 272
Loose, Jacob L 267
Madden, Martin B 221
Mansur, E, L., Company 188
Mather, Alonzo L 110-112 •
Mayer, Oscar F 273
MacArthur Bros. Company 209, 210, 21 1
MacArthur, Archibald 210
MacArthur, Arthur F 211
McClean, S. A., Jr 257
McCord, Alvin C i/o
McCormick, Cyrus H 233
McDonald, James 205
McEwen, Willard M 248
McGavin, Charles 262
McMunn, Samuel W 168, 169
McMynn, John C 214
Meacham, Florus D 222
Meacham & Wright Company 222
Merchants' Loan and Trust Company 129, 130
Miller, Harry 1 104, 105
Miller, John S -. , 252
Miller, Walter H 159
Mitchell, John J 127, 128
Mitten, Thomas E 112
Monarch Book Company 19°
Merrill, Charles E 273
Morris, Nelson & Co ISS
National Life Insurance Company of the U. S. of America. 138, 139
National Packing Company '57
PAGE
Netcher, Charles 24$
Noel, Prof. Theophilus 274
Nollau, Arthur 226
Northern Trust Company 131
Northwestern Terra Cotta Company 223, 224
O'Donnell, M. C .'208
O'Gara, Thomas J 204
Ogden Gas Company 199
O'Neill, Francis 278
Otis, Joseph E 241
Palmer House 22p
Palmer, Potter 235
Pam, Hugo 260
Peck, Philip F. W 239
People's Gas Light and Coke Company 198
Peters, Homer H 269
Plamondon, Charles A 275
Porter, Washington 270
Pratt, Dr. Edwin H 262
Pullman Palace Car Company 106-108
Rankin, Charles W I94
Reinberg, Peter JQ^
Republic Iron and Steel Company if,2
Rider, William H jp2
Roche, John A 31
Roebling Construction Company 219
Russell, John B 134
Sapp, Gordon G 191
Scherzer, Albert H jgg
Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company 164-167
Scherzer, William 167
Schlueter, Henry W 212
Schneider, E., & Co 175
Schwarzschild & Sulzberger 157
Selz, Morris 185
Shankland, E. C. & R. M 219
Shope, Simeon P 250
Shortall, John G 271
Simon, Robert M 276
Smith, Abner 249
Smith, Frederick A 247
Smulski, John F 259, 260
Spaulding & Co 187
Spry, Samuel A 225
Spry, The John, Lumber Company 225
Standard Washed Coal Company 208
Starnes, P. M .• 139
Starring, Mason B 113
Steger, John V 178
Steger, The Piano Company 176-178
Stromberg, Albert 172-174
Stubbs, John C 108
Sturgeon, Robert C 135
Sulzberger, Ferdinand 158
Swift, George B 32
Swift, Gustavus F 238
Swift & Co 153
Sweet, Col. A. L 220
Thomas, E. A 220
Thomas Elevator Company 220
.Thornton, Charles S 254
United States Peat Fuel Company 178
Vehmeyer, Henry F 146
Walker, Lincoln W 191
Weber, B. F 227
Wells, Addison E 209
Wells, Fred A 209
Wells Bros. Company 209
Wickes, Thomas H 242
Willey, Cameron L 224
Wright, Frank S . 223